This just in: President Barack Obama is a Democrat with nothing to lose.
Not just any kind of Democrat, but the kind who makes the conservative right wing cringe in terror: A liberal Democrat.
The president’s second inaugural address was a major declaration of that liberalism. A Jan. 22 Detroit News article said, “He stood up for spending on entitlement programs, promoted immigration reform, gay marriage, tax reform and laws to make voting easier, and unexpectedly gave one of his most impassioned calls for climate
change.”
The benefit of not having to run for re-election is brutal honesty.
The president is free to fight and push for what he and his constituents believe should be done for this country.
Now don’t get me wrong, this stuff appeals to my social liberalism. The problem is delivery. It took a year to get Obamacare passed, and it’s not exactly what we were told it was going to be.
Obama has four years and nothing to lose. Make it happen.
A Jan. 21 New York Magazine article said the president is focused on demonstrating the need to “balance between freedom from government and the need for an effective government.”
If only other politicians shared that drive and attitude. It’s a shame partisanship has become such a strong aspect of our political system that such hard-lining would further stagnate things.
Or would it? Such passionate politicking could result in high politician turnover. That could result in less partisanship and more cooperation as politicians fight for what they want.
Cooperation flourishes, things get done and federal republicanism works.
Politicians spend too much time campaigning and worrying about elections and not enough time actually doing their jobs. This is what seems to naturally happen when you have career politicians instead of politicians who want to fight for their constituents and what they believe in.
Some would say there’s no difference between the two anymore, but there is. A career politician who is so concerned with getting elected, pulls his punches and panders to his most fervent and fanatical voter base with no eye on the general population’s
concerns. We all saw how well that tactic worked for the Republicans last November.
Obama isn’t the first politician to reach the end of his tenure and throw caution to the wind to fight for what he believes the people need. A position in politics was once seen as a duty, not a career. Some see that line of thinking as old-fashioned, dated and no longer viable, but Obama might bring the trend back.
The president has put forth a very tall order for his second term. Whether he succeeds or not could set the tone for the future of American politics.
