Ross Douthat writes one of his familiar on-the-one-hand-on-the-other columns about Obama's first year. Along the way he makes a good point: Obama, like Reagan, is attempting to introduce his "base" to the realities and compromises of governing, but unlike Reagan, he's doing so without having built up credits and credibility with them over the preceding decades - a lack that leaves him walking a tightrope without a safety net. It will take an enormous amount of political skill not to fall off.
Douthat also acknowledges the salient truth about year one:
Between the stimulus package, the pending health care bill and a new raft of financial regulations, Obama will soon be able to claim more major legislative accomplishments than any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson.
his childish base is ever so grateful for the introduction to reality. meanwhile we'll keep pushing him to the left, while white liberals comment on our anger.
Posted by: kjc | December 29, 2009 at 01:21 PM