TPM - Seminal Moment - Obama as a pragmatist.

[OregonBlue]

Let's be honest with each other here: Presidential press conferences are usually news voids into which a lot of ink and chatter are dumped.

But Obama's press conference this afternoon will be seen as a turning point if not in his Presidency then in how we understand and perceive him and his approach to politics. I say that keenly aware of the press' tendency to see itself at the center of the story and of TV's tendency to view history as a series of moments caught on camera. So I'm having to overcome a lot of my built-in skepticism about over-reading these kinds of pseudo-events.

What we saw and what I think we'll see borne out by subsequent events is Obama revealing in a very public way the choice he has made between the two political personas he has simultaneously inhabited throughout his candidacy and his presidency. He has tried to be both pragmatist and progressive savior. And even when he stopped trying to be the savior after he was elected, he was at a certain level content to let supporters continue to project that persona on to him.

Today, he very clearly and loudly said: that savior persona is not me. I am the pragmatist. And you know what, I don't have a whole lot of patience for the idealists. I share their ideals, but I don't share their approach and I'm not going to get bogged down in recriminations over not living up to some abstract ideal.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/12/seminal_moment_1.php#more?ref=fpblg

Excellent analysis of what happened today.

[catbyte]

1. But he should at least appear to have a spine

Just sayin'...

edited for typo

[OregonBlue]

4. I don't think he's spineless. I think he is in fact exactly what the article says, a pragmatist.

I think he made it clear where he's coming from and people can decide if they agree with his approach or not. No more second-guessing. To me that's a good thing.

[jefferson_dem]

2. That's what I saw too...

I loved it. Screw the petulant, narrow-minded ideologues on whatever side.

[JCMach1]

3. Seminal moment- the moment we knew Obama was a 1-term President

I can't recall a President actively attacking his base in this manner. 2 yrs is a long time, but...

[OregonBlue]

6. I'm not sure I agree. I think the majority of Americans may want a pragmatist. We already had a

decider.

[JCMach1]

13. Unfortunately, Obama has become the decider for his own party, compromise is what Obama says it is!

[Newest Reality]

5. When you top to think about the curtain ...

when you look behind it, even the idea of a nation, a government or a President is an abstract ideal to some degree. It just happens to be the dominant, consensual one at that time.

Is a President a titular head, a National CEO, a leader, an free-thinking individual, a savior? I mean, you could fill it in from your own map anyway you think you should and it will reflect your own, inculcated or chosen values and beliefs.

[TwilightGardener]

7. My guess is, he's tired of getting it from all sides. He's not a Kenyan Muslim Socialist, but

he's not a liberal idealist either. Interesting. We'll see what happens.

[Safetykitten]

8. HCR....he's a pragmatist. DOOOH! Now he tells us.

[TwilightGardener]

10. I actually always knew this.

[MineralMan]

23. Uh, he said he'd be working on a bipartisan basis in

the campaign. I was listening.

[TexasObserver]

9. His attitude toward the left is annoying and self defeating.

His carping has alienated the people who put him an office and hasn't gotten him one vote he didn't get last time.

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. Fighting for your ideals is only a GOP thing it seems

GW Bush and Karl Rove are probably having a good laugh at President Obama. When they were in power, they knew how to fight and get what they wanted. Obama - not so much.

[frustrated_lefty]

12. A sensible, pragmatic one termer.

Hope a viable alternative candidate appears soon.

[JCMach1]

14. I really don't think that's possible...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Pragmatic - Having a supply of highly mobile "lines in the sand" and liquid principles.

[OregonBlue]

19. Progressives may no longer support him but I'm not sure that the majority of Americans want lines in

the sand. I think they want progress and jobs, jobs, jobs.

[DJ13]

16. A pragmatist only works if the opposition is willing to compromise

In the current situation, being a pragmatist just means conceding to every demand made by the other side.

We havent had a political system where pragmatism worked since Reagan, where the Democrats were capable of negotiating in good faith.

[Scurrilous]

17. Propaganda.

Fascist tripe.

Not fit for New DU.

:thumbsdown:

[Individualist]

18. Pragmatist: DLC speak for neocon enabler.

[Joe Fields]

20. Obama = FAIL!! Pure and simple.

FDR was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and saw the suffering that this country was going through. He was smart enough and courageous enough to draw lines in the sand. Obama has been a stooge to his corporate masters from day one. He is smart, but not smart enough. He is courageous, or else he could not have gone this far in politics, but definitely not courageous enough to do the right and necessary things FOR THE GOOD OF THIS COUNTRY.

He has finally shown his true colors.

I said from the very beginning that his allegiances were not with the average American. he has proven, beyond a doubt this week that I was correct.

Grab your loved ones and hold on tight.

[OregonBlue]

21. Can't say I agree. I think he is trying to do what's right for the American people. I don't think he

sees it as left or right, black and white. We had one of those, George Bush and the country is more divided and there is more hatred than ever. I want the hate to end.

[eomer]

24. No, he says one thing and does another.

He could have gotten a public option through congress. It only required 50 votes in the Senate because health insurance reform was done through the budget reconciliation process.

He said he thought a public option was the best thing for the country.

He could have gotten a public option.

He didn't.

Same story for permanent extension of middle-class tax cuts and extension of unemployment.

He said he was in favor of them.

He could have gotten them done (at an earlier time when budget reconciliation could have been used).

He didn't.

He's been playing us for fools all along. He tells us he wants certain things but then he doesn't go through the plainly obvious steps that are required to get them done. He puts himself into these no-win situations and then uses them to push down our throats what was obviously his real aim all along.

[OregonBlue]

25. I see it differently. But hey, that's what discussion is all about. We have the right to disagree.

[Scruffy1]

22. A few defenders, no defense

[KG]

26. when has he been a 'progressive savior?'

i mean, other than his campaigh speeches?

[Chimichurri]

28. that's what I want to know. ObamaCare is a huge boondogle to

the insurance companies. Instead of reigning in the banks, they are bigger and even more powerful. He has not only allowed the Bush wiretapping policy to remain but will expand them to include the internet. Despite his campaign rhetoric, we are still very much mired in two unjustified wars and Guantanamo is still open for business. Etc.

None of his policies have been progressive in nature but rather center right/right wing in philosophy. But no matter how to the right Obama veers, they are still not that into him.

[BzaDem]

27. I agree with their analysis, and I agree with Obama. If the current bashers got their way in 1930

and 1960, we would have no Social Security and no Medicare. While idealists are often a necessary condition for important and monumental change, they are not nearly sufficient, and sometimes change happens despite their efforts rather than because of them.

[Number23]

29. Rec'd and you gotta check out the accompanying story too!

'Obama Dresses Down 'Sanctimonious' And 'Purist' Progressives (VIDEO)'
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/obama-dresses-down-sanctimonious-and-purist-progressives.php

"Towards the end, he declared: "I don't think there's a single Democrat out there, who if they looked at where we started when I came into office and look at where we are now, would say that somehow we have not moved in the direction that I promised. Take a tally, look at what I promised during the campaign. There's not a single thing that I said that I would do that I have not either done or tried to do. And if I have not gotten it done yet, I'm still trying to do it."

TELL.THEM. :headbang: