http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/andrew_sullivan/article7009528.eceListen up, the president is not for turning
Obama’s state of the union address is a clear signal to critics on both the left and right
Congressman congratulate Obama after his address last Wednesday
Andrew Sullivan
We should know the pattern by now. Barack Obama has a way of seeming to let things drift, even dangerously so. His supporters start to panic; his enemies start to sniff confidence like a junkie out of a brown paper bag. Scott Brown’s remarkable victory in Massachusetts provided the glue, and the Republicans and the media almost passed out with the rush — and still the president remained somewhat aloof; distant.
As health insurance reform looked dead in the water, Obama seemed equally inert. The mood on the liberal blogs went from depression to panic. His presidency was over! Liberalism’s revival was a mirage! The atmosphere — and I wasn’t entirely immune to it myself — reminded me of the autumn of 2007, as Obama remained mired 30 points behind Hillary Clinton and seemed to be drifting back into obscurity; or when in 2008, after his stunning victory in Iowa, he lost New Hampshire and allowed the race to drag on for months. Or how healthcare reform seemed massacred by last summer’s town hall meetings, or how he chose to stay removed from the Iranian revolution last June.
And then there’s the comeback. This time, the setup was almost perfect: an already scheduled grand political speech playing to all of Obama’s strengths. And yet
what was striking about the speech was how unlike Obama it was. It was conversational, self-deprecating, sometimes funny, intermittently aggressive, occasionally moving, conciliatory in tone. But what struck me most was not the delivery but the reception. I’ve listened to dozens of state-of-the-union speeches and I have rarely heard such a quiet talk meet such silence. It was the kind of silence that greets the truth.snip//
I do not know if Americans will respond to Obama’s reasoning, or if the short-term political posturing will dissipate. In the depressed economic climate, where tempers are high and anxiety is endemic, the odds of Obama succeeding seem remote. But
what came through last Wednesday night, past the gentle conversational tone, was a determination to stay the course he set out in the campaign. “We don’t quit. I don’t quit” was his version of “the lady’s not for turning”. On Thursday Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, gave a similar pep talk: “You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole-vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get healthcare reform passed for the American people.”
With unemployment at 10%, who knows whether health reform can get passed, and whether Obama can build on that momentum for serious financial reform?
What we do know is that he has not caved in or radically altered his agenda or lost his touch. He has done what Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher did at similar points in their first terms: dug in deep, with the same themes and same character he ran for office on. His poll ratings are almost identical to Reagan’s at this point, a moment when the entire political class wrote Reagan off.
We know how that story ended; we have no idea how this one will. But those who think this presidency is over are missing something. It is not just about Obama. It is about America at this particular moment in time. There’s a reason he was elected; and I have a feeling he reminded people of it last week. For all their legitimate anxiety, anger and bolshiness, my bet is they will not forget who is the only one acknowledging the depth of the crisis and proposing a way forward.
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