Legal Commentary

AP Surprised By Pragmatic Presidency

By TChris

The Associated Press reports:

The $827 billion [stimulus] measure is likely to pass next week despite stiff opposition from the GOP and disappointment among Democrats, including the new president who labeled it imperfect. "We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary," President Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, sounding a note of pragmatism that liberal followers rarely heard on the campaign trail.

(emphasis added) Rarely heard? The Obama campaign made clear the candidate's belief that the political process is one of compromise, and that "change" meant working to get things done in contrast to the GOP's polarizing "our way or no way" strategy of governance. Obama even used the "perfect is the enemy of the good" quotation during the campaign.

There are legitimate reasons to question the wisdom of some comprises to which Senate Democrats have agreed, but the president's willingness to indulge compromise in a pragmatic effort to pass a stimulus bill should surprise none of his "liberal followers."

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 07, 2009 (boomark / email).