What the Republicans and many in the political chattering class are calling flip flopping by Obama is nothing more than political pragmatics, and Obama is very good at it. In fact, given the array of problems facing the next president, learning to adjust as events warrant will be an essential tool. Obama is only concerned with mastering whatever process is needed to get from here to there, nothing more, nothing less.
Obama is not trying to lead America to an era of post partisanship. The whole fixation with post partisanship was ridiculous to begin with. Democracy can not survive without partisanship. What Obama is about is seeking an era where 20th century political polarization will be replaced by a 21st century era of political realism where practical consensus among partisans replaces ideological obstructionism. That is not idealism, it is good politics.
To be sure Obama has adhered to 20th century liberalism in his brief political career, but that's what the Democratic Party process demanded to secure the presidential nomination. All those Democratic interest groups who think Obama is the next generation FDR or JFK are in for a rude awakening. This guy isn't about adherence to a liberal agenda long past its political life expectancy and usefulness (and for years it was so very useful). And he certainly isn't a closet adherent to a conservative agenda that has thankfully run its course and is now thoroughly discredited.
Barack Obama is about process not ideology. He's Larry the Cable Guy but with a Harvard education and a towering intellect. As Larry is fond of saying "you gotta do what it takes to get 'er done", and Obama will do just that as president. Good for him. Good for the country. It's not complicated, and it should come as no surprise. It is exactly what Barrack Obama has done his entire adult life, but for some reason most people either don't get it, don't believe it, or chose to deny it.
The main problem with this analysis is two fold. First, this so called spirit of bi partisanship and pragmatism that Beckel thinks simply "gets things done", just happened to conveniently be discovered just in time for the general election. So, this spirit of cooperation that has replaced partisanship also happens to put him in the best electoral position. Right after he rode a wave of partisan liberalism to the nomination, he is now attempting to ride a spirit of bipartisanship during the general.
Second, and significantly more troubling, is that Obama has never really gotten anything done besides getting himself elected. For instance, Beckel points to Obama's 2000 loss for the U.S. House of Representatives as a sign that Obama learns and gets things done.
When Obama read the cards wrong and got crushed in a congressional race he changed tactics and ran for the Illinois State Senate. He had read the cards right until the retiring incumbent changed her mind and the machine told him to back out. To "get 'er done" he successfully challenged the signature petitions for not only the incumbent but four other challengers and had them all disqualified. He then allied himself with the powerful Senate leader to get his support for the US Senate. Once again Obama "got 'er done".
Of course, the problem is that everyone agrees that Barack Obama is very skilled at getting himself elected. After all, he is a first term Senator with a history of accomplishing nothing and now he is on the brink of becoming elected President. Of course, getting himself elected is not the same thing as getting things done.
Here is how Beckel portrays some of Obama's record of getting things done.
While he genuinely opposed the Iraq war he recognized that the cards gave him an opening to challenge the Democratic frontrunner for president who supported the war. His anti war credentials gave him the support of the most fervent Democratic activists who, along with his experience as an organizer, gave him the caucus victories he would need to overcome the frontrunners advantage in big state primaries.
Now Obama runs for president and the cards have changed once again and he adjusts accordingly. He wants out of Iraq but recognizes he needs the military to support significant troop withdrawals so he is willing to 'refine' his 16 month timeline. He recognizes that he misplayed his hand on bitter gun-loving church goers so he finds a nuance to support the Supreme Court's reversal of the DC gun ban. Ditto the surveillance of private telephone conversations.
Obama's recent openness to offshore drilling is the cable guy at his best. Listen carefully and what he said was he might be willing to compromise a wee bit on drilling but you can be sure he will get in exchange most of his own energy plan including massive investment in alternative energy. In other words the cable guy will give a little in order to "get 'er done".
But the cable guy knows that in order to find consensus on a myriad of issues that are acceptable to him he must raise the bar on the stakes involved in failure to achieve consensus. Hence the soaring rhetorical symphony that heightens the expectations for the play on the stage where his opponents must meet him. Although the danger of soaring to messianic heights has the potential to (and to a degree has) become a negative in a campaign setting, it is an essential ingredient in the cable guy's prospects of success should he be elected president.
Of course, none of these are proof of anything besides a politician that knows how to read a standard poll. Obama still refuses to acknowledge that the surge he opposed worked. Furthermore, he has always been for some sort of a timeline and he has always been for some sort of a residual troop presence after the withdrawal. The only thing that has been adjusted is the the beginning of the timeline and the size of the residual force. The only thing that has changed is the facts on the ground. In other words, Iraq has improved so drastically that his plan seems to some as plausible. Of course, had Barack Obama had his way he would have withdrawn most troops long before things improved.
As for off shore drilling, the only thing this shows is that Obama can read polls. Simply acknowledging that he might be in favor of some drilling is not getting things done. If Barack Obama really wanted to get things done, he would have demanded the Senate get back in session. Simply acknowledging his brand new support for qualified drilling while the Senate is on recess while doing nothing to make it a reality, is simple and naked political opportunism.
The same can be said about his sudden reversals on the second amendment and warrantless wiretapping. The only thing that Obama did was put his own position in line with the majority of the population just in time for the general election. His change in position was NOT done in conjunction with any bill or other legislative action. He has lead on none of these issues. He promised to lead a filibuster of the warrantless wiretapping bill while his audience was mostly liberal activists. Once it was time for him to lead, he pandered to a totally different audience instead. That isn't getting things done but naked political pandering.
In fact, this whole analysis is shockingly lacking in substance. Normally, I find that Beckel is informed in his liberal positions. In this piece, all he really does is twist the truth to turn naked political opportunism into some sort of pragmatic spirit of getting things done. When you examine Barack Obama's record, nothing could be further from the truth than some sort of bi partisan spirit of getting things done.
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