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Opinion
Dec. 12, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GEOFF SCHUMACHER: Obama and the left

GEOFF SCHUMACHER
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Some members of the left are restless. They're anxious, ill at ease, angry even. They worry that their hero, their knight in shining armor, may not be who they thought he was.

The left sees President-elect Barack Obama announcing his Cabinet and key advisers, and it's alarmed that mainstream, moderate individuals are getting the plum jobs. They don't see any bona fide liberals standing beside Obama at his press conferences.

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    • To some on the left, it appears that Obama is just another establishment toady. They note that conservatives are hardly complaining about his appointments, that in fact they're praising many of them. This can't be a good sign, right?

    "He has confirmed what our suspicions were by surrounding himself with a centrist to right Cabinet," Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America, told Politico.com.

    Jonathan Tasini, who runs the workinglife.org Web site, worries that Obama will backslide on his promises to organized labor. "On the one hand, the guy hasn't even taken office yet, so it's a little hasty to be criticizing him," Tasini told Politico. "On the other hand, there is legitimate cause for concern."

    But liberals who have been paying close attention have known that Obama is not really one of them. The only people who ever characterized Obama the presidential candidate as a liberal were John McCain supporters in the heat of campaign warfare.

    Leftist provocateur Naomi Klein says she's never considered Obama a kindred spirit. "If you actually look at his policies, what they reflect is the triumph of the right-wing political paradigm since Reagan," Klein told The New Yorker. Klein says she's only worried that Obama will disappoint the young people who embraced his campaign.

    Klein is not wrong. Obama is likely to eventually slide off the pedestal for those who placed him there. Expectations have always been inflated. But that doesn't mean his historic election was meaningless or that he will be a bad president.

    On the contrary, Obama seems to be on the right track. He is preparing to govern from the center -- center-right on some matters, center-left on others. He will be more pragmatic than ideological. His goal will be to make things better, not try -- likely in vain -- to reinvent the national and world order.

    George Packer, writing recently in The New Yorker, attempted to predict how Obama will operate. "People who have observed him in meetings describe a politician who solicits advice and information from a variety of sources, puts a high value on empirical evidence, and has the self-assurance to reach his own conclusions. A word that comes up again and again, from Obama himself and from people who know him, is 'pragmatic.' "

    Packer quoted an Obama colleague, Harvard professor Cass Sunstein, who described Obama as a "'visionary mimimalist,' meaning someone who wants to pursue large goals in a way that offends the deepest values of as few people as possible."

    Sunstein told Packer that "liberal" is not an accurate label for Obama. "Instead, Sunstein suggested as the governing philosophy of an Obama presidency the idea of 'deliberative democracy.' The phrase appears in [Obama's book] 'The Audacity of Hope,' where it denotes a conversation among adults who listen to one another, who attempt to persuade one another by means of argument and evidence, and who remain open to the possibility that they could be wrong.'"

    That's precisely what is needed at this critical time. In the wake of eight years of exactly the opposite approach to governing, we are in desperate need of "deliberative democracy" administered by a "visionary minimalist."

    Obama isn't even president yet, but the tenor of national politics is already changing. There's the distinct vibe that after Jan. 20, a lot of smart, sensible people will be moving into the White House to try to rebuild what has been decimated, if not demolished, over the past eight years. If we're not exactly entering a post-partisan period, at least it has a chance of being post-stupid.

    And by the way, this approach would serve the Democratic majorities in the Nevada Legislature equally well when they convene in February. As Nevada endures its toughest economic crisis in modern history, the Legislature should take a lesson from this notion of "deliberative democracy."

    When the dust settles eight years from now, mark these words: Obama will earn the respect and admiration of his skeptics on the left. He won't satisfy all their desires, but he will deliver a progressive-oriented agenda that will have gained support across party lines.

    Undoubtedly Obama will take a few wrong turns, hit some dead ends while in office. It's an extremely tough job and nobody's perfect. But at least you know he'll consult a map rather than just drive around in circles and bang into things.

    A commenter on the Politico.com article, "Vivo-World Citizen," put it succinctly: "Obama has done more in a few days than Bush in eight years. ... It's time for correct decisions, not partisan dreams."

    Geoff Schumacher (gschumacher@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of Las Vegas CityLife, owned by the same company as the Review-Journal. His column appears Friday.

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    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on December 12, 2008 07:24 PM: Alan sez: "He's not even in office or taken the oath and already scandals are coming forth."

    Oy vey. Alan. Scandals are always coming forth. Post back here when you can actually link one to Obama.

    In the meantime: take a pill.

    Did I mention Obama is black?


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on December 12, 2008 07:09 PM: Not Convinced sez: "Come what may; I've ordered my 'Don't Blame Me - I Voted for McCain' bumper sticker."

    We won't blame you, "Not Convinced." After all, just a month ago you were convinced Obama was a socialist, black radical, terrorist sympathizer -- oh, the list goes on and on.

    Some people are just paranoid. "Not Convinced": take a pill.

    Did I say, "some people are just paranoid?"

    And Obama is black.

    Scary.

    He must be "socialist, radical, black supremacist", etc. etc. ad nauseum.

    Just ask Flush Rimjob or Sean Hannity whose careers depends upon that perception.

    But it is really all the minorities who voted for Obama who are actually racist.

    Right?

    Did I mention that Obama is black?

    Scary. He must be _______________ .


    Alan wrote on December 12, 2008 04:30 PM: He's not even in office or taken the oath and already scandals are coming forth. Notice how they waited until after the election, this has been going on for 6 years. I never spoke with the Gov. but his Advisor Axlerod said he did, then they said he misspoke. Get ready for the new word of the new President office ( Misspoke) Which means I said it but i don't remember or did i say that no you just misspoke.


    Ummm wrote on December 12, 2008 02:02 PM: Who cares? Everybody knows that Obama is just a stupid doorman for Clintonia. Look at all the cabinet appointments. Clintonistas. Big deal, not like anything will really change. Just the direction of grift for those fortunate ones. If anybody really cared, they'd start killing politicians for what they've perpetrated on the rest of us.

    If you believe that sunshine is gonna blow out Obama's tush, you should do your part to save the planet and jump from the nearest bridge.


    Not Convinced wrote on December 12, 2008 12:58 PM: Come what may; I've ordered my "Don't Blame Me - I Voted for McCain" bumper sticker.


    bluntnose wrote on December 12, 2008 11:50 AM: RHG, don't know which part of the quoted statement is ridiculous, but it sure isn't the last phrase. It is indeed time for correct decisions (i.e. pragmatic ones), without regard to partisan dreams. Time for discussion of what ideas may work in these challenging times, not invective and namecalling (i.e. the socialist=liberal=progressive stuff from another commentator). Labelling is a poor substitute for analytical thought. What we all hope is that this pragmatic, consensus-building president will be just that, and get us out of this mess. Good article, Geoff.


    RHG wrote on December 12, 2008 10:03 AM: A commenter on the Politico.com article, "Vivo-World Citizen," put it succinctly: "Obama has done more in a few days than Bush in eight years. ... It's time for correct decisions, not partisan dreams."
    --------------
    That's just a ridiculous statement.


    Johnathan L. Abbinett wrote on December 12, 2008 10:00 AM: Great column Geoff, and I agree that we most of us are moderates - and very independent!

    We can be "conservative" on some issues, "moderate" on most issues, and "liberal" on other issues - and being a "progressive" (to me) has always been about moving forward in an intelligent manner!

    No one label seems to fit? So what are we? Most of us are very patriotic AMERICANS and stauchly independet NEVADANS that register to vote as a "D" or an "R" because there is no well organized Independent Party!

    President-Elect Barack Obama, and his transition team, is making a great effort to get "the best and the brightest" back into the White House - as and example, Veterans are elated at Obama's pick of former Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General (Retired) Eric Shinseki to be the next V.A. Secretary!

    Readers may recall that this is the guy that had the courage to be candid and told the Congress the truth about how many troops would be needed to invade Iraq, win that war, protect the peace and re-build the infrastruture - and he got fired for being honest and refusing to lower his estimated of how many troops would be needed just to appease the Bush administration!

    At a time when we need to beat back the bureacratic bullies and clean the V.A. up, from the top down, to ensure the backlog of 400,000+ claims get processed fairly (the first time) and with so many troops soon returning home with PTSD, TBI and every other typical set of combat wounds - we need a serious leader at the top of the V.A. that is an advocate for all vets!

    A wounded Vietnam Veteran himself, Gen (Ret) Shinseki may well prove to be the best V.A. Secretary ever in our history!


    Ronnie Ray Gun wrote on December 12, 2008 09:42 AM: I agree with most everything in this article except the assertion that the decimation and demolition has been done over only the past eight years.
    It goes back decades. Energy and immigration are two issues that should have been tackled long ago. The seeds of the financial crisis (and predatory lending such as payday loans) go back to the 70s and 80s as well. Our problems are much bigger than Bush.


    Geoff Schumacher wrote on December 12, 2008 09:23 AM: The reference to Obama eventually sliding off the pedestal was not a reference to the "far left" who put him there. The context, I think, is obvious that I was referring to the millions of young people getting involved in voting for the first time because of Obama. Most of them don't have well-defined political philosophies yet. Many of them probably aren't far left at all, and in fact are likely to be moderate: left of center on some issues, right on others. That's how the real world tends to work.


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