Obama’s preternatural confidence is intended to be infectious. His presidency begins as an exercise in psychotherapy for a nation suffering a crisis of confidence. But neither the nation nor the government that accurately represents it is constructed for consensus. And he will be unable to fault his office for his frustrations because, more than any predecessor except the first, the 44th president enters office with the scope of its powers barely circumscribed by law, and even less by public opinion.
Obama’s unprecedented power derives from the astonishing events of the past four months that have made indistinct the line between public and private sectors. Neither the public as currently alarmed, nor Congress as currently constituted, nor the Constitution as currently construed is an impediment to hitherto unimagined executive discretion in allocating vast portions of the nation’s wealth.
Perhaps the point of the “cynicism” Obama scorned in his speech is to, um, point this out. And perhaps the point of Obama’s scorning “cynicism” was to keep what should be an alarming fact from actually alarming the public.
Yes, or perhaps you're being a negative nelly and should be placed on house arrest while the hopeful one determines how best to spend our children's money. Did you forget about all the experts he has? This is going to be awesome…
If Obama fails, I hope the lesson people take away isn't “let's elect republicans!” but instead “let's greatly diminish the power of the presidency.”
I have long told my liberal friends that the abuse of power they so derided in Bush, was made possible as precedent set before him. He did not construct it from thin air. True, he did add to it like so much packed powder onto an ever expanding snowball, but the question remains, “Would the abuses of the Bush years have been possible without the expansions of executive privilege perpetrated previous.” Certainly I recall no such protests regarding the formulation for our rendition procedures during the Clinton years, and narry a harsh word for FDR's internment of the Japanese (let alone his other gross crimes against the constitution).
There is a truly disturbing streak in both liberals and many conservatives to assume that ideological purity is in itself a safeguard against the abuse of power – and then onto a truly self-delusional mind frame that excuses abuse for the sake of power, therefore, “Because it's my guy, that stuff could never happen.” and then, “It's okay if he egregiously abuses his power and restricts liberty … because it's MY GUY.”
Yay! Ponies for everyone! Yay!
To his credit, Obama has started his presidency by renouncing powers, specifically the power to arbitrarily kidnap people and lock them in secret prisons.
It would be very nice to see him continue explicitly renouncing past Presidential power grabs. Wait and see, I suppose.
Geez, and there I'd thought that in times of great danger, preternatural confidence was really good for the nation.
To his credit, Obama has started his presidency by renouncing powers, specifically the power to arbitrarily kidnap people and lock them in secret prisons.
It would be very nice to see him continue explicitly renouncing past Presidential power grabs. Wait and see, I suppose.
Geez, and there I'd thought that in times of great danger, preternatural confidence was really good for the nation.