http://fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/012210.html
Attempting to explain the shift in public opinion that has lost the Democratic Party their super-majority in the Senate, Fareed Zakaria asserts that Barack Obama has overextended his agenda, and become too involved in the messy infighting of the legislature.
Having left his moorings as the above-the-fray, bipartisan idealist of the campaign trail, Zakaria claims that President Obama is acting more like a Prime Minister (an unabashedly partisan boss, intimately entangled with the particulars of parliamentary politics) when he should be acting like a President--aloof from the bickering and mudslinging of the legislature.
This essay was written in response to the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate, but becomes a larger scrying of Obama's political fortunes in general; especially his falling poll numbers and the increasingly emboldened right-wing resistance to his agenda.
The essay adds value by applying Constitutional principles (and the intentions of the Founding Fathers) to the current political situation. Zakaria makes the argument that Obama would be more successful if he were to do his job as the Founding Fathers prescribed it--by shoring up the separation of executive and legislative powers, keeping himself clear of the "dirty politics" that characterize the legislative branch.
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Is it true or not that Obama is/was trying to get rid of the "outdated" ways the Founding Fathers put into place? If so, is he not doing what he said he would do in the first place?
ReplyDeleteNo, he's never said anything like that. It's a common jibe against liberalism in general, but it's a pretty hollow one.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that this has come full circle. Over the summer I listened to a lot of NPR and one of the big discussion was on obamas handling of health care. Many were accusing him of being too detached from the development of the bill. He said he was going to lay out the general strategy, and then leave the details up to the legislators. However things dragged on and on, with increases republican resistance. Obama tried to step in to get things back into line. Only now he is being attacked for being to involved. Apparently he over learned the lessons of the clinton administration.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think this is the most compelling explanation for his current political troubles.
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