John Cole endorses Jon Chait's critique of fantasy (Jon Chait's fantasy) liberal critiques of President Obama. Here's my question - how is President Obama's "pragmatism" working out politically? Is being a one term President part of the "pragmatism?"
How's Obama's Theory of Change working out?
I suppose that Chait and Cole are stuck in "looking back" mode as opposed to looking forward, but their words belie this. Chait writes:
Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds. Hence the allure of magical thinking.
It seems to me that Chait is arguing for avoiding "maximal partisan conflict" even now. That means continuing the post partisan unity shtick through the 2012 election.
This strikes me as terrible political advice . Come Thursday night, when the President, in essence, kicks off his 2012 reelection campaign, we'll have an idea if the President is going to believe in the Chaitesque political "magical thinking" that the Post Partisan Unity Schtick will lead to reelection.
I certainly hope not.
Obama's "theory of change" was aimed at offering the political opposition a choice between cooperation on progressive policy initiatives or self-isolation through obstruction and extremism. In other words, in a country unhappy with partisan gridlock, Republicans would either go along with key elements of a progressive agenda, or shrink themselves into an ever-more-extreme ideological rump that was irrelevant to the direction of the country.
(Emphasis supplied.) One GOP landslide in 2010 and an Obama approval rating of 40 later, it seems difficult to argue that the Theory of Change has worked politically. Will Obama stick to it through the 2012 election and will it be advisable for him to do so? I argue, and I think "liberals" argue, that no, that would be a political mistake. Jon Chait and John Cole seem to be arguing that Obama needs to "stay the course."