Discussion Weekends - Do you expect Obama to govern from the center?
I have decided to keep trying something different for the weekends. I will be posting a question relevant to the weeks news for you to consider and share your opinion on. There will only be a few rules to make this a valuable experience and a poignant exchange of ideas (and ideals):
Do you expect Obama to govern from the "center" and why?
- Be respectful. No name calling, baseless ridicule or belittling of another's responses.
- Make all your points with statements of fact or personal experience. No emotional pleas, hyperbole or party talking points.
- Answer only the question posed, don't lead the discussion down rabbit trails and dead ends.
- Cite your sources when you quote them.
Do you expect Obama to govern from the "center" and why?
Based on the pick of chief of staff and the people he had around him during his news conference yesterday I say he will not govern from the center. As much as he would probably like to.
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I expect Obama to govern much more from the center than most people would expect him to do so.
Although much has been made about his supposed partisan choice of Rep. Rahm Emmanuel as Chief of Staff, such as Robert New alludes in his comment, I'm not convinced that Obama's choice of Emanuel was purely partisan.
I'll add that those of us who have long fought for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in order to out millions of people from out of the shadows and provide them with either work permits or some legalization process were not at all thrilled with Emmanuel as Obama's choice as COS.
Emmanuel once famously said of immigration: "This issue has real implications for the country. It captures all the American people's anger and frustration not only with immigration, but with the economy,"
"It's self-evident. This is a big problem."(…)
"For the American people, and therefore all of us, it's emerged as the third rail of American politics,"
"And anyone who doesn't realize that isn't with the American people."
The aforementioned comment from Rahm Emmanuel was perceived by many on our side, as his public encouragement of Democrats to take right-wing stance on the issue of immigration. The fact is immigration became such a big deal because Republicans and DLC Democrats gave away the store on trade deals and shipped so many jobs overseas.
But, let's get back to whether Obmama will or won't govern from the center. I firmly expect him to, even if I'd like him to go more center-left, but COS, Emmanuel will be tasked with implementing the President's policies, so expect him to fully try to reinvent himself. I would not be surprised given Obama's launching of Change.gov and the degree of transparency he has allowed in his administration that he will be more open accepting more ideas and ideals from those in the center and even center-right.
Don't be surprised if Emmanuel morphs into something similar to his fictional brother, Hollywood's Super Agent Ari Gold and become the "super-agent-bi-partisan-deal-maker" that get's many difficult, messy and sticky issues ironed out between divergent members of Congress.
It's too early to tell given his choices of cabinet members and each choice is likely to be hyper-scrutinized, but the fact that Obama has repeatedly stated to his supporters that, "we may not always" agree, leads me to believe that every now and then, he's likely to move very much to the center on lots of issues.
Only time will tell!
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