Barack Obama: Paradoxical Whig -- Dionne

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/barack_obama_paradoxical_whig_20110126/?ln

Be ready for the paradoxical phase of Barack Obama’s presidency. Many things will not be exactly as they appear.

Paradox No. 1: Because over the next two years he can’t get sweeping, progressive legislation through the Republican-led House, Obama will be doing far more to make the core progressive case that energetic government is essential to prosperity, growth and equity.

Paradox No. 2: His talk about the new, the bold and the innovative is in the oldest of political traditions. The Obama of Tuesday night represented not the rambunctious liberalism of the late 1960s but the unifying, John Kennedy-style liberalism of the decade’s beginning—with a dash of Dwight Eisenhower moderation. Obama also sounded like a Whig, the insufficiently appreciated 19th-century American political party that proudly included Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln.

Paradox No. 3: Obama used a conciliatory speech to pick some carefully chosen fights. It will be amusing to watch Republicans defend the oil companies’ tax loopholes that Obama would like to scrap.

More at the link --

[Dogmudgeon]

1. You accidentally posted something that was positive about Obama

*I* liked the article, but that's just me.

--d!

[thereismore]

2. Like it. nt