Willie Stark, Barack Obama and Idealism’s Limits

Four years ago, Barack Obama won the White House by convincing his supporters that he was not just another candidate, but a figure above and beyond politics.

In 2012, after a term marked by partisan warfare and economic malaise, that vision now looks excessively naive. Obama’s supporters, especially the young, have lost their innocence about the power of idealism in politics, and about the possibility that a leader can stay above the fray.