I have felt for some time that Obama would come to a point where he would give up on consensus governance and strike out in a bold and unilateral direction. It could be that Friday's post-closing announcement of suits against mortgage lenders is the opening salvo in just such a new economic plan of battle.
Today's call in The Atlantic for a new "grand bargain" between business and labour is just the type of bold and aggressive action that served both parties so well for a half century from the 1930s to 1980s. It could well be that two and a half years of conciliatory efforts may be the foundation for much bolder action such as this now. Obama's opponents can no longer claim that he is unwilling to compromise -- he has greatly damaged relations with his base and endangered his re-election prospects through just such efforts. And it has demonstrably garnered him very little.
Perhaps it is only wishful thinking on my part, but in the run-up to 2012, we may yet see the Obama we all hoped for. Roosevelt did not enter office with radical ideas, but grasped them, albeit much more quickly than this administration, out of necessity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment