Saturday, January 24, 2009

Obama: The Gift of Providence?

"And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14

http://www.frontiernet.net/~kenc/index.shtml

Question for Obama

Will Obama's passion to be post-partisan, inclusive, to reach out to the opposition, etc. lead him to make compromises with a progressive agenda? If so, how far is he willing to go to get consensus? As the landslide winner with a majority in both houses of Congress, will he forge ahead enact a robust progressive agenda if he can only get 60 votes in the Senate instead of compromising with the opposition in order to get 80 votes or 90? How does one measure short-term success for liberal to left measures enacted with a bare majority versus long-goals of remaking American politics and gaining a sustained capacity to get things done?

I have noted before the tension between principles and pragmatism and idealism and realism. The questions above are grounded in that tension. How will Obama resolve them in practice? We will have to wait and see.