Notes to self for 2nd term: Thou shalt not cave
President Obama is older and wiser this time around
By Chris Cillizza, WashPost, Published: January 20
The President Obama who will be publicly inaugurated to a second term Monday is a very different political man than he was four years ago. He is harder and harder-edged, both more confident in what he can do and more aware of what he can’t. He remains a political pragmatist, but a far more wary one. He is older and, it would seem — politically, at least — wiser.
Put simply: Obama seems to have learned the right lessons from what was by any measure a surprisingly rocky first term in office. Below are the three main lessons that the past four years taught him and how they inform the man who will take the inauguration stage Monday.
● Stop negotiating with yourself. One of the defining characteristics of Obama’s first-term legislative agenda was his problematic approach to political negotiations. His strategy was flawed in two ways: (1) He started where he wanted to end up policy-wise, giving him little room to negotiate without giving away things he badly wanted, and (2) his attempt to kick-start stalled talks was to publicly (and privately) negotiate with himself, a move that further weakened his bargaining position.
Although Obama ultimately won big fights with Congress over the economic stimulus plan and health-care legislation, the political pain — both for him and for his party — was significant. And his willingness to extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for two years after the 2010 midterm elections was cast by the Democratic base as something close to a total capitulation.
(More here.)
The President Obama who will be publicly inaugurated to a second term Monday is a very different political man than he was four years ago. He is harder and harder-edged, both more confident in what he can do and more aware of what he can’t. He remains a political pragmatist, but a far more wary one. He is older and, it would seem — politically, at least — wiser.
Put simply: Obama seems to have learned the right lessons from what was by any measure a surprisingly rocky first term in office. Below are the three main lessons that the past four years taught him and how they inform the man who will take the inauguration stage Monday.
● Stop negotiating with yourself. One of the defining characteristics of Obama’s first-term legislative agenda was his problematic approach to political negotiations. His strategy was flawed in two ways: (1) He started where he wanted to end up policy-wise, giving him little room to negotiate without giving away things he badly wanted, and (2) his attempt to kick-start stalled talks was to publicly (and privately) negotiate with himself, a move that further weakened his bargaining position.
Although Obama ultimately won big fights with Congress over the economic stimulus plan and health-care legislation, the political pain — both for him and for his party — was significant. And his willingness to extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for two years after the 2010 midterm elections was cast by the Democratic base as something close to a total capitulation.
(More here.)
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