"America (has) elected it's first independent president."

[wyldwolf]

The right looks at his economic-stimulus plans and spies an old-school, big-government liberal. The left looks at the tax cuts in that same plan, his hawkish foreign-policy appointments and decidedly nonprogressive economic ones, and his invocation invitation to Rick Warren, and wonders, “Hey, was this guy really serious about all that centrist talk during the campaign? We thought he was only kidding, that he was one of us all along!”

Obama is difficult to pigeonhole not simply because he’s new but because of the newness of the moment that he—and we—inhabit. It’s a moment dominated by an economic crisis that’s shaken bedrock beliefs about the infallibility of free markets. A moment when a revised architecture of power is arising globally, challenging America’s status as an unrivaled superpower. When the networked age has finally arrived, inciting the implosion of the broadcast paradigm that governed politics in the Industrial Age. When the country is being transfigured demographically, hurtling toward becoming a majority-minority nation.

This crescendo of forces produced Obama, made his ascension possible. Now he has a chance to shape the new era, to leave his stamp on it. “This really is the first presidency of the 21st century,” says Simon Rosenberg, head of the Democratic advocacy group NDN. “Those who try to hold on to twentieth-century descriptions of politics are going to be disappointed and frustrated by what’s about to emerge in the new administration, because American politics no longer fits into the old boxes—and neither does Obama. For better or worse, what he is doing is building a new box.”

By every indication, Obama’s efforts to build that box are being guided not by any hoary orthodoxies or deep partisan convictions but by a strict adherence to the doctrine of pragmatism. He brings to the task not just a new team and a new agenda but the makings of a new kind of political machine. The questions now are whether he can turn his rhetoric about transcending polarities into an effective governing strategy; whether he can forge a cohesive legislative coalition to advance his aims; and, if he can and does, whether the Democratic Party will still look remotely like itself—or more like, well, him.

http://nymag.com/news/features/all-new/53380/

[WinkyDink]

1. Sorry, but I like "orthodoxies" and "convictions", "hoary", "partisan", or not. Did I vote as and

for a DEMOCRAT, or did I not?

[wyldwolf]

2. two thoughts

1. “Hey, was this guy really serious about all that centrist talk during the campaign? We thought he was only kidding, that he was one of us all along!”

Did you think he was kidding or were you not paying attention?

2. Sorry, but I like "orthodoxies" and "convictions", "hoary", "partisan", or not. Did I vote for a DEMOCRAT, or did I not?

Yes, you did. You just didn't vote for a democrat.

[Creideiki]

3. Careful. If you point out that Obama ran as a centrist all along

some people get really upset.

[fasttense]

4. John Heilemann is trying to paint Obama as something else other than a Democrat.

I suppose this makes him feel better. But the bottom line is that Obama IS a Democratic leader and NOT a Republicon no matter how much John Heilemann would prefer a non-Democrat.

Obama is just not the type of Democrat that people expect to see after 8 years of constant bashing of liberals and democrats. Non-Democrats have come to believe that true Democrats are monsters, waiting to turn the country into a replica of Soviet style government, or a Muslim nation, or a complete socialist state.

People like John Heilemann see Democrats through the eyes of Republicons and are left to scratch their heads when they realize Obama is not the monsters described by the likes of Rush Limpballs and Coultergeist.

They think that if Obama is not a Democratic monster then he must not be a Democrat at all.

[wyldwolf]

5. I read it differently

I think he's portraying Obama as a Democrat who isn't beholden to party orthodoxy and, thus, is "independent."

[Beacool]

6. Oh, l thought that "box" was called "triangulation"

in the Clinton era. There's nothing new under the sun........

:eyes:

[wyldwolf]

7. what I find interesting is...

not too many mainstream writers have made that connection.

[Beacool]

8. They'll cover for him as long as they can.

After they made him out be sooooo different from Clinton.......

:eyes: