You Never Know What You're Going to Get
Richard Nixon appointed Harry Blackmun to the Supreme Court and later told others he regretted it as Blackmun transitioned from conservative to liberal views.
George W. Bush campaigned as a “compassionate conservative,” drawing moderates. He evolved to be (or maybe always was) anything but compassionate and betrayed his conservative backers on issue after issue, especially fiscal policy.
Winston Churchill said "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest." Is the same true of Barack Obama? He certainly skews liberal when he orates; but, parsing reveals something else.
He wants to withdraw from Iraq “responsibly” as does George Bush.
He is going to escalate in Afghanistan as he withdraws from Iraq.
He wants to shut down Guantanamo; but, it looks like he will do it almost as slowly as Bush was doing it.
His views on the next phase of the bailout seem more aligned with Republican views than those of his fellow Democrats in Congress.
I know I’m cherry picking issues. But, Obama was elected by a coalition of liberals and moderates acting on the assumption that we were ready socially and economically for a return to compassion. They weren’t planning on compassion hitting an economic wall at home and abroad.
I’m thinking that over the next four years conservatives will be less displeased with him than they expected to be; and, liberals will feel much more betrayed than they expected to be.
9 comments:
That is so true, you've frightened me!
I also suspect that he has a vision for what direction this country should go in, and that vision got him elected. But in reality, trying to execute a hairpin turn in the gigantic tanker that is US Government policy is just not possible.
Maybe he underestimated the magnitude of the undertaking. Maybe he oversold his capability.
But this is why I stated from the beginning that it really doesn't matter WHO we elect if your issues are the troops in Iraq or the economy. Those dice have been cast.
That said, the guy isn't in office yet. Let's have this discussion in a year when he's had a chance to do something... Deal?
Deal Pos. I'm fervently hoping that he does have a vision. I think he and we almost certainly underestimated the magnitude of the problems we face. Finally, I hope that he didn't oversell his capabilities.
It seems politicians on both sides define copmpassion as "spending loads of tax payer money".
Besides calling conservativism compassionate is redundant.
I hear many blogs talking about the, "...end of our national nightmare." But how are we gonna feel in 8 years when the Democrats/Obama have proven unable (unwilling) to undo the damage that Bush did to this nation?
Nightmare indeed.
I agree. Obama may turn out just like Bill Clinton, the best moderate republican president in the last 50 years.
I have no problem with that. Being in charge, and being successful, requires being pragmatic rather than ideological.
My hope is that Obama has the guts to take on the structural issues that have potential to destroy our country if we don't correct them soon. Entitlements and health care costs, a bloated defense budget, etc. He'll need bipartisan support to do any of these "must-do" projects.
In his column this morning, Richard Roeper wrote that, unless Obama announced 'oh, by the way, I can also fly' and then launched himself into the clouds and did loop-the-loops, he'd disappoint some people.
Since he didn't fly, I suppose the disappointment has already begun.
The expectations for this man are so high: I don't know how anyone can hope to meet or exceed them... and with politics it's like quarterly returns for the stock market... if you don't meet or exceed expectations you've failed.
He didn't exactly make a name for himself while senator. I seem to remember him caving in to the Repubicans each and every time, always followed by the explanation that he was being "pragmatic." There's been a huge gulf between what he says in speeches and what he does in practice.
I agree with Ralph Nader that the Democrats and Republicans are really just different factions of the Big Business party. I'll be very surprised if Obama does anything for the working men and women of America.
The best thing he can do for working men and women is to kill TARP and the trillions of debt for the so called "bailout", encourage domestic energy with nuke/oil/wind/solar/tidal/cow poots, permanently repeal the Death Tax, keep Bush's Cap Gains tax relief, provide regulatory and tax relief to employers and tax relief to families with no cap on income.
All this while bringing peace to the Middle East, stability to Southeast Asia, prosperity to Africa and selling popcorn at halftime. (Bonus points if you know the popcorn reference) :-)
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