"his rhetoric is very strongly individualist—more so than Clinton’s, I think, and definitely moreso than Bush’s"

Sandefur also gets President Obama more than many:

"Just two things. I think it’s interesting how, regardless of his ideological fixation on using the government to steal from those who earn and give to those who do not, his rhetoric is very strongly individualist—more so than Clinton’s, I think, and definitely moreso than Bush’s. Rhetoric does matter. His beliefs are very anti-individualistic in practice, but he insists in his speeches that he believes strongly in individual freedom and individual flourishing. I think that rhetoric will serve as a significant block (if used correctly by the opposition) to some of the more dramatic attacks on freedom that are to be seen in the next four years.

Second: here’s job number one for Obama: deal with Guantanamo Bay. Do it immediately. Find some way to give these people trials or to release them. A “temporary” detention center, purposely created to avoid the imperatives of American law, where people sit for seven years, is not tolerable in our Constitutional order."

However, he gets a little too frightened here:

"Of course, an Obama administration is a great day for race relations, and a sad day for freedom. It means a dramatic assault on economic liberty, an expansion of government that will make the past administration seem tame, and a federal judiciary dominated by judges who think just about anything Congress does is constitutional."

Not going to happen. Well, it certainly won't be dramatic, and make the last eight years seem tame. You'll still have plenty of money to lose in investments.

Prop. 8 Disgrace

Timothy Sandefur on the shameful passage of Proposition 8 in my former state:

"Most of my readers probably read Volokh anyway, but if not, you must read Dale Carpenter's very touching post on Proposition 8. This is a shameful and embarrassing day for California."

Here's a bit from Carpenter:

"On Sunday, I spoke to a rally of about 100 of them in Vallejo. It was held in a park bordered by rolling and largely barren, brown hills, which funneled a chilly wind onto us. The park was empty. It was all gay and lesbian couples, many of them with young children. Some had gotten married already and others were planning to do so before the vote, just in case. They were wearing red and carrying signs. They were full of hope. They would be heading out that day to form a human sign constituting the words “No on 8" by the side of the freeway, trying to capture the attention and hearts of thousands of passing motorists in a state of 40 million people. It seemed an impossibly small group taking on a lot for themselves.

We are going to get gay marriage in this country, but that day is now a little farther away."