President-elect Barack Obama's tilt to the right became obvious immediately after his historic victory, with the appointment of Rahm Israel Emanuel, a pro-Israel hardliner, as chief of staff. Our December Exit Poll was: "Barack Obama: ruling class pawn or avatar of freedom?" We received the following responses:

From JG in New York City:

Not answerable until 2009. Right now I'd guess he's a ruling class Rook and a big fan of freedom.

From Margery Coffey in Rosalie, Nebraska:

All of Washington is committed to Corporate Needs before Human Needs. Obama is no exception. A glance at his proposed cabinet shows that he is more of the same. True change means NO WAR. It is the only ecological path that will work. Washington is addicted to war and Obama is as Washington as the rest of them.

If the USA embarked upon a road of peace, stopped their interferrance in other countries affairs both covert and overt, stopped their arms dealing behind the scenes and invested in ecologically sound programs, the world would follow. BUT as long as we insist on creating the biggest carbon footprint with WAR and slaughtering the next generation in it as well as destroying what natural resources we have left humanity is doomed. Obama may be a small step in the right direction comparatively but it is too little too late.

World War 4 Report replies: Too little and too late for what exactly? Surely a small step in the right direction is far preferable to further big leaps in the wrong direction...

From Jan Martell, somewhere in North Carolina:

Ruling class pawn or avatar of freedom?

Both, man, both. The first public figure I've seen who is utterly believable as both. I have watched him as a senator and marked him early on as a hawk and a corporate shill—but—he is also brilliant and an incalculable diplomatic asset to our country. I don't expect very much policy-wise from his administration, but as a public figure and a head of state, I think that he is unparalleled in my lifetime, and I came of age during Camelot.

I'm Green Party, and in my neck of the woods the new Green is Black. We voted for Cynthia McKinney, but Obama carrying our state (barely) into the blue for the first time since Nixon has been a tremendous shot of adrenalin. When people's hopes are up and the turnout at the polls is breaking records, that is a victory for democracy, at least in a small way. A lot of people now think they have a mandate for their agenda. Let's hope they stay fired up.

World War 4 Report replies: Presumably you mean since before Nixon. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, the last time North Carolina went for a Democrat was for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Let's hope people are fired up to hold Obama's ass to the fire, and not to rally around him right or wrong.

See our last Exit Poll results.