Excellent read on Obama's theory of politics and government.

[Hamlette]

This short article makes the argument that in Obama's last four speeches, (and some bits from earlier ones) he has set forth his philosophy about politics and the country. From his speeches:

"But today, we are affirming that essential truth -– a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself –- that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations. (Applause.) We are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust. We don't fall prey to fear. We are not a nation that does what's easy. That's not who we are. That's not how we got here.

History is made when men and women decide that there is a greater risk in accepting a situation that we cannot bear than in steeling our spine and embracing the promise of change. That's when history is made.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

What this generation has proven today is that we still have the power to shape history. (Applause.) In the United States of America, it is still a necessary faith that our destiny is written by us, not for us. Our future is what we make it. Our future is what we make it.

We are a nation that faces its challenges and accepts its responsibilities. We are a nation that does what is hard. What is necessary. What is right. Here, in this country, we shape our own destiny. That is what we do. That is who we are. That is what makes us the United States of America."



This is, really, a very strong claim. What Obama is saying here is that politics, rightly understood, is the very core of what makes this nation a nation. Not individualism, not religiosity, and certainly not ethnicity or the land itself, but politics. It's a view of the United States that looks not to underlying social conditions (as Lowry and Ponnuru do in their recent essay), but to its founding in political action, in the Revolution and then the framing of the Constitution. Of course, the fact of the Revolution and the Constitution can be seen as a consequence of its underlying conditions -- but Obama here, at least, rejects that point of view. We, in the United States, do not accept history, or live through history -- we have the capacity, Obama (and Biden) say, to make history, through collective action, whether it is in the Revolution, the Constitution, the Civil War, the civil rights revolution, or now, in tackling the challenges that face us in the 21st century. America, therefore, is self-created, and continues to be self-creating, by political action.

http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/03/hist...
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We were right to fight tooth and nail to elect this man. He speaks to my heart, and why I love politics. Our destiny is written BY us, not FOR us (might this not be what separates dems from republicans?). As the article says: "Politics, then, for Obama -- at least some of the time, or at least potentially -- is an active, positive, experience of making collective choices that organize our lives."

The Tea Party people are wrong. You can't "get government out of your life". Politics is about deciding how we organize our lives.

It's all good.

[NJmaverick]

1. K & R because it's good to understand where the President is coming from

[aquart]

2. We DON'T "scale back our aspirations"?

So he really did not want single payer or a public option?

Since politics comes from a root meaning "people," it's probably a safe assumption that a nation is about people.

[zipplewrath]

3. He doesn't generally govern this way however

He is governing from the point of view of the immediately possible, not the long view of what is ultimately necessary. What you get out of that is not large transformational changes, but small shifts and changes from the status quo. i.e he is more Ben Franklin than Sam Adams.

[Hamlette]

4. Odd to criticize the president for doing what is possible instead of attempting the impossible

Says it all.

Thanks zipplewrath for putting it so honestly.

[zipplewrath]

7. It wasn't a criticism

It was just an observation that he speaks one way, and governs another. One can decide which way they'd rather have him act. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. You really need to calm down.

[NJmaverick]

8. Results tend to grow exponentially, while talk with out action

leads to failure

[Emit]

5. Can you check you link, Hamlette

Here's the one I found

http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/03/history-is-made.html

[tekmage3000]

6. The Law Professor has it wrong

John Adams...

http://vftonline.org/TestOath/27consensus.htm

The general Principles, on which the Fathers Achieved Independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their Address, or by me in my Answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all those Sects were united: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence.

Individual Rights...

http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper29.html

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson, the chief architect of the Declaration of Independence, urged the drafters of the Constitution to clearly identify the rights of the people. Jefferson believed past governments had been harsh and restrictive to the populace, governed questionable areas with no just power to act no jurisdictional authority and the result had been a reduction or loss of individual rights (U.S. Department of State). Like Jefferson, many of the founding fathers' generation feared the encompassing and absolute power of a federal government and demanded a Bill of Rights to protect the people and limit the powers of a federal government.

The Bill of Rights contains the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution and includes the basic privileges of all United States citizens. Many of the rights written in the amendments resulted from the shared experience of both the British and the American colonists under British rule. All the amendments reflect the t close ties between personal freedom and democracy as visioned by the founding fathers' generation (U.S. Department of State). Over the years, the definition of some rights has changed and new concepts, such as privacy, were added to the Constitution. But the rights of the people are the core of American democracy. In this way, the United States is unique in the world; its tradition of individual rights strongly reflects the American experience.

[Qutzupalotl]

9. Good thing we have a healthcare law

to protect our individual right to life from the caprice of bean counters.