“Did you hear the class warfare bell being sounded tonight?” That question, posed by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) last Tuesday, effectively summed up the response to the State of the Union address on the political right, where President Obama’s proposals to help the middle class are being childishly compared to gifts from Santa Claus.
It’s no surprise that Republicans are upset. A visibly energized president delivered a speech touting the recent wave of good economic news and outlining an ambitious agenda to strengthen America’s middle class. As Republicans sat on their hands, Obama made a clear, principled argument for progressive policies to tackle inequality and grow the economy. He made the Republican Party’s hostility to basic fairness sound ridiculous. He showed, in front of the entire nation, that he’s got his swagger back.
Indeed, Obama has emerged from November’s midterms with a renewed feistiness and determination, a complete reversal from his response to the electoral shellacking that carried House Speaker John Boehner and the tea party into power in 2010. Just over four years ago, I lamented that Obama’s obsession with compromise had caused him to sacrifice progressive values. “Too often,” I wrote, “this president is so singularly focused on seeking common ground that he fails to define his — and our — principles. Real leadership might require compromise, but it cannot be defined by compromise. It must instead be defined by a clear vision for the future, and most important, a willingness to defend it.”
Last week, we got the clearest definition of that vision to date, in a tough State of the Union address delivered on the heels of a climate deal with China, a major executive action on immigration, a strong endorsement of net neutrality, and an inspired move to end 50 years of failed policy by normalizing relations with Cuba. All of these steps were taken without a vote in Congress, and all of them infuriated congressional Republicans. Meanwhile, the economy has been rapidly improving, along with the president’s approval rating.
It appears that an economic stimulus program and strong progressive executive actions are both good policy and good politics.
Obama’s reinvigorated spirit was on full display last week, as he clearly relished the opportunity to remind Republicans of their failed predictions about his policies — and, of course, their failure to defeat him. As E.J. Dionne wrote, Obama finally “decided to deal with the Republican Party he has, not the Republican Party he wishes he had.”
And yet, whether Obama will make good on the promise of this speech over the next two years remains to be seen. By concluding with his message of unity from the 2004 convention in Boston, Obama signaled that he still prizes the principle of compromise and remains willing to practice it, even with the uncompromising Republicans who have burned him so many times before.
Four years ago, I acknowledged that “any legislative movement forward on the progressive agenda (if any is possible) will require some form of compromise with an increasingly loathsome opposition.” That holds true today. At the same time, we know Republicans are intent on reversing Obama’s immigration order, rolling back Wall Street reforms, and weakening Social Security. We know they aren’t above taking hostages to achieve their right-wing objectives. And we know that one of the few potential areas for cooperation, much to the dismay of progressives, is a corporate trade agenda that will harm working Americans of all political stripes (which we can still defeat).
There is a better path to the future. The president should wield his veto pen on those Republican plans that would move America backward. With that veto pen, he can protect the EPA, immigration reform, health care and the social safety net.
Meanwhile, Obama can continue to show voters the progressive leadership they wanted enough to twice elect him, by using executive actions to move the nation forward. Veto the Keystone XL pipeline. Advance broadband. Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Force disclosure of campaign contributions by corporations that receive federal contracts. Push harder on the high-road, high-wage economy. Ratchet down the drug war and the police state. Inspire more Latinos and Asian-Americans and young people to register and vote. Hold a televised national teach-in with serious climate scientists.
In all likelihood, Obama will be tempted at some point to pursue the kind of bargaining that has backfired in the past. But as he considers the contours of an acceptable compromise, he should remember that several important factors are working to his advantage, including rising confidence in the economy, increasing momentum for populist policies, the commanding power of the veto pen, and widespread relief at seeing the president defend his values. And if he finally accepts that searching for common ground does not require compromising his principles, we can be hopeful, in the president’s famous words, that “out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.”
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