Bone, your point is well taken but perhaps not entirely correct in the sense that politicians often make this or that initiative the centerpiece of their campaigns. It's true that some of the eventual details of what finally passes congress may never have been broached in the campaign, nevertheless it is the politicians whose feet are held to the fire when they run for re-election if they do not deliver to the voters on their campaign promises. You will recall that health care reform and getting out of Iraq were centerpieces of the Obama campaign. In this sense at least, the voters that voted for Obama were voting for one or both of these initiatives. (They were also voting for repeal of don't ask don't tell, another of the Obama initiatives.) I also recall Johnson campaigning on his Great Society initiative. His idea was that everyone should have the opportunity to go to college. Every home should have two cars in the driveway, and a television set --or was it two television sets? (I realize this sounds rather absurd now.) After the election, "everyone should have the opportunity to go to college got translated into "everyone should go to college", but this again is essentially what the voters voted for. Do a lot of things happen that they did not vote for? Sure.
Yes, he did, calling it "The War on Poverty". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYimkeI0LA Unrelated to the direct issue, but some of these old campaign ads are amazing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjEUOirdfeo
I love YouTube! Check out this way-back ad... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaPRnsgFxOU&feature=related
Precisely! If the powers that be want Obama in office they will make sure his opponent has some skeletons in their closet or other disqualifying event. Since Obama is Bank friendly it's highly likely he'll be a 2-termer. The elections in the US are far from free.
India is developing since you can exploit their people via Caste system. http://goo.gl/8NAlY China is developing since you can exploit their people by abusing Human rights. http://goo.gl/8wiUq US/EU are suffering by letting Chindia abuse their people.