Defending Obama Versus The Left

If one were to read the left leaning blogs written by “progressives”, whether they be Democrats or non-affiliated entities, a conclusion might be that President Obama has betrayed his principles and the promises of the 2008 campaign. Clearly there is palpable, and lately very vocal, discontent with the country’s first African American president. Talks of mounting a left wing led primary challenge in the 2012 election cycle has surfaced and could be getting some legs.

One of the complaints is that Mr. Obama does not seem to be fighting for his beliefs and the Democratic agenda. There was great outcry, for example, when he did not pursue the “public option” in the Health reform bill. There seems an even more vocal outcry over his recently announced entente with the leaders of the Republican Party over the extension of the Bush tax cuts.

I too had been seeing red over this perceived abandonment of his principles and promises and Mr. Obama’s seeming unwillingness to “fight”.

Yet today I decided to take a closer, and yes, a more dispassionate, look at the president’s performance and one theme, in my view, is emerging: while candidate Barack Obama on the campaign trail promised to “fight” for health care for all Americans and to abolish the “tax cuts” for the rich, as President Obama he has seen a remodeled view of what his role is and that is to keep the American people “safe”, or that if some harm must come that such harm is buffered as best as possible.

Why do I say this?

Let’s take health care as an example. What exactly did he come away with in that bruising battle of 2009? Well, the following:
• People can longer be denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition
• Younger Americans can avail of their parent’s health care policies until age 26
• Patients suffering serious illness can no longer be dropped from coverage by the insurance companies
• Americans not provided health care benefits by their employers can purchase reasonably priced policies

So, looking at the glass from a half full rather than a half empty perspective, what the President accomplished and accepted was a health care bill that met key elements of his 2008 campaign promise, which is to take care of the most vulnerable and under served segments of American society. The bill that he was willing to take in his pocket would, at the very least, eliminate the most egregious cases of suffering endured by a large segment of the American population. Part of his mission was accomplished. As president he worked out the best deal he could for the American people. The public option is a fight for another day.

In the fight for the elimination of tax cuts for the wealthy, a similar scenario has emerged. He knows his campaign promise was to eliminate the cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000.00 a year, but he also realizes that in the present atmosphere, and after the power shift created by the 2010 by elections, he had a slim chance of getting such a bill passed. In the meantime there was this specter of millions of unemployed Americans heading into the Christmas season who would lose their unemployment benefits come January 1st. The effect would have been devastating for many families with millions of children also adversely affected.

So, while he may be seething is his progressive heart of hearts at the prospect of millionaires and billionaires continuing to enjoy what is in effect the largesse and generosity of the American people via the existing tax code, he kept his focus on what is most important: the welfare and well being of a large segment of the American public.

It also was, perhaps tacitly, an acceptance on his part that hey, maybe there is some merit to the Republicans ideas about creating jobs. His mission, foremost, is not to validate his own ideas but to take care of the people he serves.

By his actions as well, i.e. acceptance of the Republicans demands, he is really fulfilling a campaign promise that we also fell in love with: the end of gridlock in Washington and jointly working for the American people. Yes, it is not in clear and dramatic proportions, but it is a start.

My advice, therefore, to the left, and to all the moderates and Republicans like myself who fell in love in 2008 with the candidate that was Barack Obama, is that we look not at that inspirational speaker who fired up our imagination, but rather at President Barack Obama, the man in the oval office who has responsibility for the welfare of all Americans. If we do, it is likely that we might cut him some slack.

And I have a feeling that the superb politician that he is, Mr. Obama knows this and also understands that when the time comes to face the electorate again he can frame his accomplishments as a case of having a glass half full. And sometimes that’s the best we can truly expect, and accept.