President Obama's State of the Union speech the other night was symbolic of how I feel about his presidency in general. Overall, I liked the speech. I thought he delivered it well, it hit some broad, positive themes I agree with and care about (infrastructure, education, new energy, etc.). He even mentioned wanting to end subsidies for oil companies! [Did you notice how dour Boehner looked as he refused to clap for that line?]
But I also felt like the speech was a good example of how Obama falls short of expectations and the hopes of many of his supporters, including me. He did not mention campaign finance reform, climate change, or gun control. His specific goals - a million electric cars by 2015, 80 percent of the country living near high-speed rail within 35 years - are good and important, but not worthy of a "Sputnik" moment. [By the way, what percentage of Americans could tell you what Sputnik was? For those who could, to what extent does it still resonate with them?] How about eliminating our dependence on foreign oil in 10 years? Increasing the high school graduation rate to 90 percent in 10 years? [According to one report, it was 75% in 2008, up from 72% in 2001.] Let's have some audacious goals that, if we really bust our butts and put our best and brightest to work on them, we just might achieve.
Like many people who voted for him in 2008, I have been both proud of and frustrated by President Obama during his first two years in office. I have come to realize, however, that he is merely the best president we can hope for, given the current realities of our political system. Given those realities, what he has accomplished is nothing short of miraculous. But, because of those realities, we can neither expect nor hope for much more, and that is unacceptable.
In two years, Obama has managed to prevent a second Great Depression, seemingly saved a large part of the US auto industry, passed a stimulus bill that saved or created millions of jobs, passed health care reform and the most significant financial reform bill in decades, won ratification of a new arms control treaty with Russia, and secured passage of a bill ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell. That's the most impressive list of achievements of any president during his first two years in office since LBJ.
Still, he he couldn't get a major energy or climate change bill passed, both health care and financial reform fell short of important goals (reducing health care costs and eliminating the threats presented by moral hazard and "too big to fail" banks in the financial industry). A second stimulus, which many economists deemed necessary and current unemployment and state budget numbers would seem to demand, was a non-starter.
We are not likely to see Obama tackle some of the greatest and most urgent challenges facing our country today because of the biggest threat to our democracy: campaign financing. Let's face it: Obama
ran for president promising "change we can believe in," but the reality is that he has achieved all that he has by making back-room deals with the big players in health care, on Wall St., and in the GOP. Cap and trade is off the table. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were extended. Lobbyists still rule DC. His Administration seems like it has a revolving door of employment with Wall St. Moreover, according to the number two Democrat in the Senate, Wall St. "owns" Capitol Hill. So what hope do we have that Obama - or anyone else - will successfully tackle the growing income inequality in this country? Or climate change? Or military spending and the privatization of the military and intelligence services? Or government subsidies for big oil and the corn industry?
In the end, I like President Obama. I am proud of my vote for him in 2008. I will, in all likelihood, vote for him again in 2012. But I have lowered my expectations for him.
I keep coming back to one thing: campaign finance reform. Without it, Obama will do the best he can - better than most. But that's no longer good enough.
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