NRO: The Obama Way?

The Obama Way?
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online

I think we are beginning to see the outlines of Obama's tripartite method of politics and governance, and it may—for a while—prove a winning combination.

First, the charm, youth, non-traditional multiracial persona, and rhetorical eloquence, when combined with shrewd megalomaniac sets (the Victory column, the convention plastic Greek temple, the vero possumus presidential seal, the 'oceans will recede' lingo, the retracing of the Lincoln route to the inauguration, etc.), create a sort of national frenzy of good will and media trance for hope and change.

Then, second, there are symbolic, though otherwise not significant, race/class/gender gestures and appointments that re-establish his leftist credentials and protect erosion of his base.

Finally, there is a evolution from left to center politics, in hopes that moderate governance both disarms rightist critics and absorbs many of the proven policies. Particulary, his foreign policy has evolved into the very positions he used to savagely attack in the primaries.

I don't know the shelf life of all this. The danger, of course, is that his base will catch on and understand such gestures are in lieu of real leftist policies that matter. The public may, after a time, cynically ignore the Rev. Wright-like cadences, and believe that what is promised will, at some future date, inevitably be modified or rejected, with a certain blame attached to the culpable "they" (fill in the blanks). And the conservatives, if they sense the messianic frenzy is subsidizing, will embolden their criticism.

But for now? There is rich irony. The Europeans have simply dropped their anti-Americanism and seem perfectly happy to accept the Obama veneer on Bush III, while the long out of power Left is willing to assume FISA, Iraq, Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, missile defense, etc. are 'complex' and 'problematic' rather than a product of Bush-Hitler.

All successful Presidents—FDR especially—used such multiple personalities to assure widely diverse audiences that he was "really" with them alone. But at some point, Obama, sans seal and columns, will have to establish his core values, understand that he can't vote present, accept that 50% of the public will not only be angry with him, but often unfairly and impolitely be angry with him—and press ahead. Sphere: Related Content