E. J. Dionne: A Hand on History

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090215_dionne_on_the_plane_with_obama/

A Hand on History

Posted on Feb 15, 2009

By E.J. Dionne


CHICAGO—Barack Obama senses that he’s in the middle of a hurricane whose gale-force winds could blow history his way.

He doesn’t mind acknowledging that he is learning as he goes along, and he is not bitter about how little help he is getting from Republicans. But he will never again let bipartisanship become the defining test of his success.

And, yes, he is aware that the passage of his stimulus package, though a big deal three weeks into a presidency, is only a prelude to the “really tough” part. The next step, “getting credit flowing again” and averting “potential catastrophe in the banking system,” may make the stimulus fight look like a friendly warm-up game.

snip//

There are many such balancing acts in Obama’s world. He knows he has to spend a lot of money now but insists he wants to “chip away at our enormous long-term budget deficit.” He wants to get the “ball rolling” on health care reform because, while it “may cost money on the front end,” it can “save enormous money on the back end.”

And where might Republicans fit into all this? Obama still thinks he’ll win their support someday on some issues. Because the stimulus envisioned a large government role in rescuing the economy, he said, it may have “exaggerated” the partisan divide because it played on “the core differences between Democrats and Republicans.” But he is aware that some Republicans think they can gain “political advantage” if they can “enforce conformity” within their ranks and thus “invigorate” their base.

He declined to judge whether this strategy will work for the Republicans, but President Obama 2.0, the version slightly chastened since Inauguration Day, did not mind explaining how their approach has affected him.

“You know, I am an eternal optimist,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I’m a sap.”

Maybe that mysterious calm that people talk about reflects the temperament of a man who can live with his mistakes as long as he doesn’t repeat them.

[ixion]

1. all this concern and hand-wringing over the "banking system"

which is the system that caused the problem. All the while, the rest of us die slowly on the vine, all THANKS TO the venerable banking system.

It just doesn't seem right to me.