tad-danger-angelfoot asked: Do you give Obama any sympathy in his attempting to carry out change when it comes to the fact that America and Congress have become more polarized than maybe ever before? How much fault should we place on him when we notice no meaningful change? What can be done to reverse this polarization if you consider it a problem? Do you anticipate an evolution of a new two-or-more-party system?
I’m more than happy to admit that Congress will give any president who seeks to make real changes quite a lot of trouble. The thing is, I don’t think Obama is trying to make real changes.
It’s a bit of a generalization to say that all his major policies are just continuations of Bush 2’s policies, which were continuations of Clinton’s, which were…well, you get the idea. But it’s not nearly as much of a generalization as you might think. Let me back that up with some specific examples (which don’t even mention really scary foreign policy/privacy concerns like “legal” assassination of American citizens without a trial, which now exists whenever the president says so; or don’t ask/don’t tell; or Gitmo; or…yeah, a lot of stuff):
Top 10 disasters of the 2009 Obama administration:
1. Cash for Clunkers
2. War escalation in Afghanistan
3. Giant government health care expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus package
6. Expansion of “state secrets” doctrine
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. “Bailout” Geithner as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits
Top 10 disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration:
1. Cash for Car Companies
2. War in Iraq
3. Giant Medicare expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus “rebate” checks
6. PATRIOT Act
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. “Bailout” Paulson as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits
It’s important to remember that even though Congress passes the laws, it has long since abdicated much of its legislative authority to the executive branch, which is where bureaucrats write the code which actually determines how the laws will be enforced. And the president just happens to control the executive branch.
Then there are executive orders, which is basically how the president makes law without congressional consent. There are more than 13,000 executive orders to date, all of which are subject to Mr. Obama’s review. He could change quite a lot without even getting involved with Congress simply by canceling unconstitutional and unjust executive orders.
So while you’re quite right that he would perpetually be working within certain limitations of the system that could not be changed overnight, I can still place quite a lot of fault on the president for not bringing the change he promised — he has a lot of resources at his disposal.
As for the polarization…well, I’m not sure I consider it a problem. It doesn’t bother me that we elect a bunch of people who disagree; what bothers me is that when it actually comes to governing they too often either 1. set aside their disagreements to trade favors at the citizens’ expense, or 2. convulse their disagreements into irrational political escapades which would embarrass any thinking man. I’m fine with polarization; what I don’t like is lack of principles, corporatism, and buffoonery in the joke that is our government.
And finally, multiple parties…well, I don’t anticipate it without major changes in the structure of our electoral system. Did you know, for instance, that the commission which runs presidential debates was founded and is controlled by the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee? Not surprisingly, they’re supremely uninterested in letting third party candidates join the debates. Ralph Nader was completely right when he said this system is designed to keep smaller parties out of the public eye.
That’s just one example, but it’s illustrative of a whole host of problems which stand in the way of third party success in America. Maybe that will eventually change — and I’d be very happy if it did — but it’s not looking up in the near future as far as I can tell.
