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Obama's Role Model Is... Bush?
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Despite the Clintonites in the cabinet, Obama’s opening act looks a lot more like Dubya’s.
Who says George W. Bush doesn’t have a positive legacy? Sure, his record on health care, education, the environment, the deficit, financial oversight, human rights, disaster response, judicial appointments, counterterrorism, governmental transparency and basic syntax leaves something to be desired. But politically, there’s a lot to admire. And one of the admirers, it appears, is his successor, the guy who will take office in a couple of weeks.
Think about Barack Obama’s moves since winning the presidency: Rick Warren is doing the inaugural invocation, Bush holdover Robert Gates is staying put at Defense, McCain buddy James Jones is taking over at the NSC, netroots scourge Hillary Clinton is in charge at State, Reaganite hero Paul Volcker has a big economic job. On inauguration night, Obama will host a ball for members of the military, to be broadcast to bases around the world. When the G-20 came to town last November, Obama sent a Republican as one of his emissaries. At every turn, he is attaching himself to symbols of moderation and bipartisanship.
Bush surrounded himself with centrist props, all the while pushing a brazen right-wing agenda.
All this is straight out of the Bush playbook. It’s hard to remember now, but when Bush took office in 2001, he did a lot of ideological cross-dressing. In his first two weeks, he invited Ted Kennedy to the White House five times, including for a movie night. He brought then-House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt a surprise birthday cake. He became fast friends with House Democratic Congressman George Miller, who he began calling “Big George.” He spoke frequently about his commitment to fighting poverty and helping minorities. And the press commented on the moderation of many of his cabinet choices, including EPA Head Christine Whitman, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
It was, of course, a sham. Bush surrounded himself with centrist props, all the while pushing a brazen right-wing agenda. He immediately declared a moratorium on Bill Clinton’s last-minute environmental, health and food safety regulations, crafted a national energy policy essentially written by oil and gas industry, and pushed through $1.35 trillion tax cut geared towards the rich. The White House trumpeted the bill as a triumph of bipartisanship. But in fact, Bush had merely siphoned off a few conservative Democrats, while making barely any compromises on substance. While the Washington press corps—which often privileges political theater over policy detail—was still dutifully covering Bush’s “uniter, not a divider” head fake, he was driving his conservative agenda down the field.
Terrible? Dishonest? Unfair? Obama doesn’t think so. He’s doing the same thing, except from the liberal side. While the press and even some of his own lefty supporters focus on symbolism and personnel, he’s pushing ahead with a breathtakingly ambitious stimulus package. All indications are that he’ll follow it up with a big push on health care, and perhaps climate change after that. Jones, Gates and Clinton have centrist reputations, but so far it looks like they’ll be providing political cover for a withdrawal from Iraq, the closing of Gitmo and a major diplomatic push with Iran, exactly the kind of game-changing, anti-militarist foreign policy moves the left has long desired.
In fact, Obama’s opening act looks a lot more like Bush’s than like Bill Clinton’s, even though Clintonites populate his administration. If Obama is feinting right and governing left, Clinton did the opposite. Early in his tenure, Bubba got himself caught up in cultural imbroglios—from gays in the military to the assault weapons ban to a scrape over his assistant attorney general for civil rights (who conservatives dubbed the “quota queen”)—that made him look like a ‘60s radical. The irony was that on the central policy decision of his first year: whether to cut the budget deficit or try to stimulate the economy by spending big on infrastructure, Clinton chose the moderate option. Symbolically, he looked liberal, while substantively, he governed from the center.
The public mood, the economic landscape and the composition of congress all give Obama a better chance than Clinton had to achieve fundamental change, the kind liberals desperately want. But the lesson of both Clinton and Bush is that the more radical you want to be in substance, the more moderate you must be in style. Let conservatives swoon over Rick Warren. He’ll be blessing an agenda liberals can love.
Peter Beinart, a Daily Beast columnist, is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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cajola
I would not say Bush is PE Obama's role model, far from it but he does want to be inclusive that's for sure and that is a good thing.
I don't think anybody would want to say Bush has been their role model if truth be told, he has made far too many mistakes and does not like to admit he's wrong.
Making mistakes is one thing, as we have all done that but it takes someone with integrity to admit they are wrong.
LProyect
What a ridiculous article. The NY Times reports that Obama intends to "reform" Medicare and Social Security. Another oleaginous DP president, Bill Clinton, was only preempted from "reforming" Social Security when bad press over the Monica Lewinsky affair limited his options. Let's hope that Obama also gets caught with pants unzipped.
bghnow
Another smart analysis, Mr. Beinart.
estcruzer
Thanks for the succinct analysis Mr. Beinart. Of course one doesn't want to be taken by surprise but there is a lot of agreement that PE Obama is putting together a team that will provide many different views - always a wise idea. At the same time he has professed an agenda that could be acceptable to any died in the wool Democrat, also a good idea since that was the winning party. But bottom-line, the guy is smart, he has an opportunity to make a difference and he has several role models to choose from to guide him over the next 4 years. Given the lessons from recent and not so recent history, I'm inclined to trust his decisions and agenda and give him an opportunity make that difference.
exoevolution
WTF????
PeterK
If being inclusive means cozying up to the likes of Rick Warren, well count me out. This is a man who equated homosexuality to pedophilia, called women contemplating an abortion to Nazis and there womb to a concentration camp, only supports abstinence only birth control (complete with symbolic torching of condoms) and led the fight to outlaw gay marriage in California. While he gives lip service to fighting AIDS in Africa, his positions on condom use guarantee that there will be even more cases. He is only reasonable when compared to most of the wacko evangelicals. It is kind of like citing Franco as a better fascist than Hitler or Mussolini. True no doubt but talk about setting the bar low. Symbols matter and Warren represents the worst kind. Between Wright and now Warren, I would think that Obama should stay away from the preachers. They inevitably create unnecessary problems.
Salome
I can't believe that you figured it out! Genius! All of Obama's former precinct captains are preparing the Kool-Aid right now. As soon as he takes office, all of the conservative talk show hosts will be replaced by NPR correspondents, all guns will be confiscated, and all gated communities will be razed and replaced by large housing projects for gay people and illegal aliens.
You better run, fascist. They know where you live.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Alenka
I feel like we need to step up as a nation and focus on issues that reach beyond our borders and affect the global community.
How will Obama address the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut world hunger in half by 2015 and eliminating it completely by 2025? An estimated $19 billion would eliminate malnutrition and starvation around the world. Our current defense budget is $522 billion, in comparison. We have the potential to make a big difference, the question is whether or not our president-elect is willing to do so.
The Borgen Project (www.borgenproject.org) provides lots of information about this issue.
LuckyTN
Obama only said he'd reform SS and Medicare. He didn't say how. The how is the important part. Perhaps, a lock box for SS. How about importation of drugs for Medicare. Those are possibilities. Reform doesn't always mean bad news.
atsegga
The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget
snesich
Insightful analysis. I agree with you, Peter. Obama is much, much smarter than most people in politics and in the media. He is absolutely determined to accomplish things as president. And he understands what that requires. He's brilliant and he's going to have a substantive record of achievement.
ambrose
We waste too much money in the world. Let's feed our hungary neighbors, take core the needy, give proper care to the sick. We are in hugh debt and certainly should not act as if we have lot money. Beware! China may act and exact our debt we owe them! Then we 'll come to our senses.
greg234
"Symbolically, he looked liberal, while substantively, he governed from the center"
Well, my problem with this statement is: how is the economy any more 'real', or 'substantial', than civil rights issues, or social issues.
By that same criteria, you would say that Bush in the end was a socialist because of how many free-market institutions were nationalized recently -- as if economic decisions were the only prism through which we view political affiliation.
Willysniffit
Wow....I think I will go and look into my "Magic Crystal eightball" and ask it when will my will my flatulence go away...is there a pill that removes talking heads from the planet??
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