Since his election, President Obama has disappointed many progressives with centrist policies aimed at catering to the middle. Many argue that President Obama is not a true progressive and therefore his policies are always suspect especially given his staff, led by Rahm Emmanuel.
Well folks, I truly believe that President Obama is the MOST political animal in the WH and everything he does is for POLITICAL reasons, however, his policies are definitely based on a core set of principles that guide his decision making. It seems to me that he only thinks in the long term without ever caring for the day-to-day bickering we all love to engage in. His presidency, from the beginning, is based on an eight-year model and his policies in this first term are, for the most part, meant to get him reelected......more theorizing after the fold.
When it comes to political intelligence (as well as personal intelligence), there is no politician who is more talented than our president. He knows the American political system and the constitutional underpinnings with which our government is based as well as the most erudite of political scholars.
Our current ways of presidential politics are set that the first term is used to get reelected when the last term is used to advance a more political agenda. We saw how Bush tried to use his second term, given his "political capital" after winning "re"-election, to advance a very far-right agenda mainly by trying to privatize social security. Thankfully, his overreaching ways made were too drastic a horror to inflict upon an already wounded American public (in the midst of two wars and constant right-wind scaremongering among the neo-conservative ilk).
My point is that most presidents try to use the first term of presidency as a means to advance a more politically ideal agenda in the second term, when they are not over-constrained by the needs to be electable enough for a 2nd term.
I truly believe that President Obama is advancing more centrist policies during this first term so that he can build a record of trying to be a consensus-builder for the overall electorate to witness for ourselves. He is getting a lot more done than anyone would have thought since his reelection, albeit in ways not "progressive enough" for many of the readers here on this blog.
I believe that President Obama is confident enough to "know" that he most likely will be reelected and feels that his leadership already has proven to be quite successful in the grand scheme of things. Like all politicians, President Obama wants to be reelected, but unlike most politicians, President Obama can think in the longterm. From his staffing, to his nominations, to his overall policy making.....it truly is a from a left-centrist type of perspective meant to be practical and not ideal in the most progressive of senses. President Obama, right know, is confident enough to know that in 2012, he can run on his record.
Once he wins, I believe that his staff will certainly change in the second term first with the chief of staff. I think that a much more progressive chief of staff will be running the show in President Obama's second term and we will see an agenda much more befitting to many progressives.
I just don't believe that President Obama is an enemy of progressives, as some on here may seem to believe. I just think he is much more practical minded as a politician to know how he is going to be reelected without having to resort to the negativity that republicans use to advance their power. President Obama will win reelection on a centrist-left record built during his first term. We will argue over the next 2 years that he is not progressive enough, but I believe that will all change with reelection.
President Obama is a smart man and I think he knows what he is doing. I am so happy that he is my president during these difficult times in our country and the world.