OBAMA 2.O
the American middle class — the
cultural and economic mainstay of
the country — is under more pressure than ever, and in some ways
farther behind than it was when
Obama took office in 2009. Our
reporters look at the administration’s claims of progress, and its
modest targeted plans for a second term, and ask whether he is
eager or able to do more.
It’s a central question — if not
the central question — of the
Obama presidency.
We find that Obama has miles
to travel on this and other issues
addressed here. His electoral victories (winning two terms by more
than 50 percent of the popular
vote each time) place him in the
company of presidents like Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt
and Ronald Reagan. Obama is in
the winner’s circle, but not yet the
“transformational figure” circle.
For most reelected presidents,
power fades quickly. That may
not be true in Obama’s case. Laws
he passed in his first term can be
implemented without going back
to a nettlesome Congress. The
world economy could be poised
for a new round of growth. His
Republican foes are in retreat and
disarray. He can back them into a
HUFFINGTON
01.27.13
corner or woo them one-by one,
as he did recently on the “fiscal
cliff.” He was a novice at Washington and at the give-and-take
of politics four years ago. Now he
has a feel for the game.
The deeper question is whether
he will be shrewd, persistent and
tough enough to turn great prom-
“Obama actually has been less
daring than he could have been, less
systematic than he should have been,
and more focused on short-term
politics than his lofty, man-of-bigideas image would suggest.”
ise into true greatness. His critics
are of course skeptical. The American people are skeptical, too. A
HuffPost/YouGov poll shows that
only 37 percent of the American
people predict that Obama will be
a “great or above average” president. Other polls show that voters still think by a wide margin
that the country is on the “wrong
track.”
But Obama has defied expectations before. And if he can meet
the challenges we explore here, he
will do so again — and honor the
memory of Lincoln and King in a
fashion far more profound
than a hand on a Bible.