The Pragmatic Obama
Long ago at Daily Kos, I diagnosed the basic divide in the Democratic Party in particular and on the left in general. It is not Liberal v. Moderate or Conservative. It is Purist v. the Pragmatist (or if your Dana Garrett or Mike Matthews, it is Principled v. Partisan Hacks). It is a divide that arises not from the What, but the How. It suffices to say that, at least among those who call themselves liberals and/or progressives here at Delaware Liberal, we all long for progressive change and liberal policies being advocated at every level of the executive. The Purists among us are alarmed and are critical at what they see as disappointing cabinet choices from President-elect Obama. The Pragmatic among us are either not alarmed at all, or are adopting a wait and see approach.
I think Booman bests describes my view on the cabinet appointments that are so disconcerting to Purists:
When I look at Barack Obama’s big appointments so far I see him making very practical decisions. In leaving Gates in charge of Defense he is covering his flank for a drawdown in Iraq. The decision will delay any major reforms at the Pentagon but the biggest job on his plate is extricating our forces from Iraq. Obama doesn’t want Republicans sniping at every turn as he makes the difficult decisions that will be required. Insofar as the Republicans snipe anyway, their criticism will be less effective and damaging.In putting Clinton in at State, Obama made peace with the strongest rival faction within the party. The foreign policy hawks within the Democratic Party now have a champion that is in charge of diplomacy, and that disarms them.In choosing Tom Dashle for Health & Human Services, he’s picked someone more suited to ushering legislation through the Senate than ideologically suited to fight for progressive change. Howard Dean would probably be a better Health Secretary after a bill is passed, but he would not be the best person to get a bill passed.
In selecting Tim Geithner for Treasury Secretary, Obama has acted to calm the markets and offer reassurance to jittery investors. It’s not clear that Geithner shares, or does not share, Obama’s vision for how to regulate the financial sector, but he is popular and trusted on Wall Street.
I don’t read these tea leaves as sending an ideological message one way or the other. Maybe the lack of an ideological message is a message in itself.
There’s an element of rewarding allies, as Daschle was instrumental in building his campaign and Govs. Napolitano and Richardson provided invaluable endorsements and campaigned hard for him. But all three choices make good, solid sense in their own right. Eric Holder was simply the most qualified Democrat for the job. The fact that he is an African-American is just icing on the cake. Eric Shinseki’s selection at Veteran’s Affairs sent a message about commitment to the well-being of our troops and a reminder about how wrong the Bush administration was in their assumptions about Iraq.
Barack Obama is perhaps the best politician to be elected President in my lifetime, and that includes both Reagan and Clinton, both of whom I would consider great politicians. He is being very Machiavellian in bringing together all the factions that could aid or derail his success as President. He also knows that he must have the backing of the center and the corporate media to have a successful Presidency. Thus in making these appointments he is silencing them as well. Obama is also moving the Overton Window as well in what is being defined as centrist or moderate, and, either knowing or not, the liberal purists who are complaining about his appointments are aiding in that. As Atrios said earlier:
I don’t especially like [Obama’s] people punching the dirty fucking hippies under the bed, but on the other hand if they manage to convince people that Obama is a sensible centrist who wants to do sensible centrist things like build SUPERTRAINS, get out of Iraq, not torture people or invade random countries, strengthen labor protections, reduce income inequality, improve education, provide health care for people, and reduce poverty, while those DAMNED DIRTY HIPPIES just won’t shut up about their magic ponies, it’s fine by me.
I would diagnose myself as 40% pragmatic, 40% purist and 20% partisan.
60% pragmatic, and probably becoming more so everyday. After Obama won the nomination my only focus was getting him elected. Like I’ve written before… winning is step one. Without step one there is no step two.
I’m also among the wait and see group. Geez, the man isn’t even in office yet. But there is one thing I’m certain… Obama is in charge – no matter who surrounds him – Obama is calling all the shots.
I think we pragmatists have to worry about a slippery slope that purists, by virtue of their purity, don’t have to worry about.
But as George Will once said, life is lived on a slippery slope and somehow we manage.
I believe that the cartoon at the bottom of the NJ editorial page either Thursday or Friday of last week depicted most of the purest
“I would diagnose myself as 40% pragmatic, 40% purist and 20% partisan.”
I would diagnose myself as 10% partisan, 10% pragmatic and 80% scrapple.
Pfft. Scrapple is delicious. Burris is not.
Scrapple, ugh! So fattening!
“Scrapple, ugh! So fattening!”
It’s what Real Amurukins eat in the realer parts of Ameruka.
Shame on you UI Scrapple is awsome Especially Milton Old Home Brand
This comment thread proves that at least Delaware conservatives and liberals have one thing in common:
We can add up to 100.
FSP,
I don’t think you can say that I’m not from “real America.” I was born and raised in Kentucky, where they eat squirrel brain burgoo. I think that passes even the Sarah Palin “pro-America parts of America” test.
Congrats to DelLib’s good-at-math commenters! W00t!
Just wonderin, how many of you are under 40?
How many of you have been involved in the politics of this country, in years! Talk about naive!
I am under 40.
I have been involved in the politics of this country since 1986, when my father first ran for office, when I was 10 years old.
Liz, you seem to imply that we under 40 have no right to discuss politics or dare question those of you over 40. Given that those of you over 40 have brought politics to where it is today, dare I say you have nothing to crow about, and indeed you are the ones that must be ignored.
Deldem-This is probably one of your top 2 posts written, since taking on DL. Make sure you print out a copy. Nice work.
Solid analysis.
The meme the Republicans co-opted under Reagan and then ignored, to their peril, through the Bushes is the meme that the DEMs need to heed: Americans ARE conservatives for the most part.
[Wiki’s conservative: Many point to the rise of a conservative disposition in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, specifically to the works of influential Anglican theologian, Richard Hooker, emphasizing moderation in the political balancing of interests towards the goals of social harmony and common good. ]
With so much riding on the Obama era, the pragmatists are happy to see how this beginning is being played out. Conservativism is up for grabs after the shabby treatment they got from the Republicans.
Excuse me, Liz? Did you just use McCain’s age/experience argument? Oh my…
Yep, the way to improve politics is to keep the same old people involved. Somehow they’ll spontaneously clean up their acts and generate new ideas. I’m not sure what happens when they get too ill to work. Does that mean the end of politics?
DD,
I think there are several things going on and I’m wondering if you see this too?
1) The purists are staking out their utopia and we need them to do that because, as you allude to in your post, they keep the Overton Window in some sort of balance. I’ve always felt that was part of our role here in Delaware. For every Sarah Palin we need a Liz or Nancy.
2) Just as the Republican noise machine has turned the term Liberal into a dirty word, they have also totally corrupted the term Conservative. Some traditional conservative tenents have become part of the Democratic platform and have been completely abandoned by the Republicans: i.e. fiscal responsibility. Their Loot America platform would hardly qualify as a traditional conservative goal. Today’s Republican party misapplies both terms and their theme has been picked up by the MSM to the degree that both Liberal and Conservative have become meaningless.
3) So what we’re left with is extremists on the left and right and pragmatists in the center. Or, right now, appearing to be slightly left of center.
4) My Dirty Hippy philosophy has always been based on enlightened self interest. A rising tide lifts all boats, we all do better when we all do better. If you kill off the Middle Class then you’ve destroyed the great American consumption machine. And that gets us to where we are today. As Krugman says Greed is not a good economic policy. Not because of some high moral principle, but because it ultimately destroys the free market.
Whadda ya think?
I think you’re right, Rebecca.
Liz’s bar for validating political activism is no different than Palin deciding who is a “real” American. It’s simply offensive.