Two more points.

Nice to see pragmatism taken to task. You have flagged why the originator of same, Charles Sanders Peirce, coined a successor-term pragmaticism.

And not surprisingly you have come up with the revolutionary difference between pragmatism and pragmaticism, and made its implication more clear. For Peirce the salient characteristics of reality were continuity and fallibility. This means in essence that the Obama you sadly discount has been better than you suggest. Hobbled indeed by racism and GOP bile.

But yes we need more democracy and more of the pressure that comes from the people.