Eugene Robinson said on MSNBC, while watching SC primary returns, that when Barak Obama passed over Bill Clinton's presidential legacy and expressed admiration for the Ronald Reagan model presidency, he was telling us that he intended to forge his own, unique legacy in office which transcended the Clinton years. Certainly, Obama intended to do more than cast the republican icon in a favorable light, or, cast the former Democratic president as a failure.
What Obama meant is that he wants a presidency which arrives in Washington with the same type of mandate Reagan assumed he had when he took power. That's the theme of his coalition appeal which encourages republican voters to 'cross the line' and join in his campaign like 'Reagan Democrats' did for republicans.
It would be foolish for any progressive who has any interest at all in advancing their agenda to wish away the fine words Obama has offered in this campaign about hope, change, and unity. It's certainly hard to imagine any progressive who would not be able to embrace every
eloquent verse of the senator's victory speech he delivered after his shattering victory in S.C. over his two rivals.
"Yes, we can heal this nation." Obama told his celebrating supporters last night."
Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs, and we take this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the message we've carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many we are one, that while we breathe we will hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words: Yes, we can," Obama said.
It's infinitely more believable that Americans can be inspired to support and defend progressive change than it is to believe Obama's suggestion that Reagan inspired anyone to anything meaningful -- anything beyond his supporters' own greed and scapegoating -- or, beyond his ability to exploit the weaknesses and fears of legislators who had once pledged allegiance to the voters, but had found better currency in allegiances with the moneyed benefactors who would perpetuate them in power.
It's an offer to inspire, the way Reagan was fabled to have done, which Obama is selling in his campaign. Moreover, he's telling us that he represents a "new generation" -- which is poised to provide the backbone for his presidential revolution.
"This election is about the past versus the future," Obama said. "It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.
In this effort, Obama would need a nation to be fully mobilized behind him as he moved to challenge Congress to enact his agenda. He would need the nation to remain energized behind his efforts. He would need the nation to ultimately accept that his remedies have actually made a difference in their lives enough to support him through whatever adversity or balance of legislative power confronts him.
Reagan's appeal was a con. He didn't believe in government for the people and he preyed on the cynicism Americans have in their representatives to effect the changes they want; changes which he subsequently, methodically obstructed.
For a better model, I would suggest Obama take another look at the presidency of Bill Clinton. If a Democrat's elected, it's a fantasy to expect that the republican opposition is going to lay down their arms and join our party in a group hug on inauguration day. Bill Clinton took as much heat from the republican opposition as any president has, in history, over trivialities and inventions over his personal affairs, past and present. And, he prevailed.
There has been absolutely no evolution in the practices or philosophy of the present republican class of legislators which would suggest any devolution from their divide and conquer strategy. Already emboldened by over a decade of wanton disregard of democratic principle, practice, or comity, the republicans will not stand still and allow Obama unfettered access as he sets about dismantling their anti-democratic constructions.
What Bill Clinton had, was a 'laser-like' ability to push aside all of the personal attacks and convey to the American people that it was their agenda he was focused on -- not the manufactured scandals, character attacks, and political squabbles which the republicans and the obliging media were hard selling. That should be the lesson Barak Obama carries into the remaining campaign, and, if fortunate, on to the White House. Most Democrats proudly point to the former two-term president's record of accomplishments as they seek to build their own legacy. It was an amazing period of economic growth and opportunity, despite the unceasingly lurid displays of the prosecutorial republican opposition.
Hillary will benefit, as well, as she moves through the rest of the campaign, from recalling and applying the lessons of her husband's laser focus on the needs and concerns of the American people in his campaigns and in his presidency. All of the little points scored against one another by these candidates is good fodder for the pundits and entertainers on the news programs, but, for Obama's universally agreed upon desire to inspire the nation to get behind the changes he's advocating to work, he's going to need a Bill Clinton-like discipline in brushing off the scandalmongers and elevating the voters' agenda, above all else. Obama, and the other candidates, need to direct their full concentration to the voters' agenda, right now, instead of the type of political destruction which was practiced by all camps in the past few weeks.
We need that focus, too.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
