NYT: How Obama’s 16 Months Has Changed Washington

[impik]

With the Senate’s passage of financial regulation, Congress and the White House have completed 16 months of activity that rival any other since the New Deal in scope or ambition. Like the Reagan Revolution or Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the new progressive period has the makings of a generational shift in how Washington operates.


/ snip


Alan Brinkley, a historian of the Depression, added: “This is not the New Deal, but it’s a significant series of achievements. And given the difficulty of getting anything done under the gridlock of Congress, it’s pretty surprising.”

The last 15 months seem most similar in scope to three other periods in the last 80 years. After World War II, the federal government helped build the modern middle class with the G.I. Bill, housing subsidies, the highway system and incentives for employers to offer health insurance. The 1960s — mostly under Mr. Johnson, but also Richard Nixon — brought civil rights legislation, Medicare, Medicaid and environmental laws. Then Mr. Reagan ushered in a period that continued, more or less, until 2008: tax cuts, less regulation and other attempts to unleash the competitive forces of the market.


The rest of this great article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/business/economy/22leonhardt.html?hp

[gcomeau]

1. But... but... but...

...Obama hasn't done ANYTHING!!!!! Or at least, not anything except prove he's actually some kind of undercover Republican/fully owned subsidiary of corporate america or something!!!!

I know, because I heard it on DU. And heard it... and heard it... and heard it...

[impik]

5. They're ignorant with no sense of history

They can't see greatness in front of their nose.

[jenmito]

2. FINALLY he gets some recognition for his accomplishments!

Big K&R! :hi:

[lunatica]

3. And that's in a year and a half

My hope is still there.

[Cha]

4. Thanks, impik..just chronicling what

some of us who have been keeping track have learned over the last 16 months.

:patriot::patriot:

[Clio the Leo]

6. Kick. NT

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. Great read. Thanks for posting. (nt)

[jenmito]

8. kick for those who must've missed it

[pokercat999]

9. LOL they're STILL calling him a liberal, funny if it wasn't so

SICK.

[impik]

10. Heee. Poor you.

[thelordofhell]

11. DDU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ_R-G_i4Xk

[mkultra]

12. the bitching here is pretty petty.

It is truly amazing. Its exactly like arguing with republicans who just cant bear to like anything he does.

[Bucky]

13. Yes and no. I disagree with the hard left critiques of Obama, but they really do help

Obama is a heck of a lot like FDR--his goal is to save the capitalist system from its own excesses. But those who ping the president for helping out large corporations and not really challenging US imperial structures are constant reminders of what our values are. Politics is a game of compromise, which Obama plays well. Values and free speech are about the moral compasses that keep the compromises from going too far or becoming amoral.

At the end of the day, I'd rather look at an accomplishment than hear a fine speech. But if we don't hear any speeches indicting our practical relativism, we all run the risk of yielding to our inner Liebermans.

[uponit7771]

14. Yeap, they compare him to FDR but wont fight for an FDR's 83% dem congress