The Pragmatic Obama

20 Comments

Long ago at Daily Kos, I diagnosed the basic divide in the Democratic Party in particular and on the left in general.  It is not Liberal v. Moderate or Conservative.   It is Purist v. the Pragmatist (or if your Dana Garrett or Mike Matthews, it is Principled v. Partisan Hacks).   It is a divide that arises not from the What, but the How.    It suffices to say that, at least among those who call themselves liberals and/or progressives here at Delaware Liberal, we all long for progressive change and liberal policies being advocated at every level of the executive.  The Purists among us are alarmed and are critical at what they see as disappointing cabinet choices from President-elect Obama.   The Pragmatic among us are either not alarmed at all, or are adopting a wait and see approach.

I think Booman bests describes my view on the cabinet appointments that are so disconcerting to Purists:

Bush Recession of 2001: Just The Facts

28 Comments

Now before you get start reading this post, I did not include all the different things that were being done to fix the economy or the many positive numbers that were coming out of 2000. I just focused on signs that the economy was slowing down and Bush’s plan to fix it. I looked at New York Times articles from June 2000 to Inauguration Day in 2001.

This is a blatant attempt to fortify liberals with ammunition against the Bush revisionists who cannot and will not take responsibility for the Recession of 2001. Yes, the signs were there that a slow down was imminent, even occurring in different segments of the economy. However, the job of the President and his administration is to mitigate those economic slow downs, so they don’t turn into a recession.

Economies are cyclic, but the economy does not have to go into a recession as part of a slow down. Just look at the administrations of Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton to see years without recessions.

The question I come away with all of this is how much notice did the Bush Campaign and then Transition Team need in order to move the economy in the correct direction?  I believe eight months is enough time.