Lucy Carrigan, this is a fatuous piece.
Nothing has changed in what you can discuss in American national politics since I was a boy in Eisenhower's era.
The only real difference today is that for the first time in decades, we have a candidate in Obama who is genuinely thoughtful and reflective. My God, how revolutionary.
These are qualities with which Americans are uncomfortable because the nation has an immensely strong anti-intellectual and pro-corporate bias.
That's why almost all political discourse, at least at the national level is, as it always has been, on the "where's your flag pin?" or "you're a damned pinko" or "love it or leave it" level.
The American Civic Religion is always at the forefront which entails everything from supporting "the boyz" while they savage civilians in another part of the world to using the kind of trailer park slop Clinton has in Pennsylvania.
It will likely take another century for America to become a fully functional democracy and, indeed, a civilized place.
