Obama Building a Radical Centrist Coalition

I'm not much of a basketball fan myself, so you'll have to forgive me for seizing on the President-Elect's favorite sport when I know so little about it, but it is a more apt analogy than any other - so get over it.

The carping from the left and right about Obama's appointments to his upper level cabinet positions demonstrates that they failed to understand what Obama had been saying all along, in his book "the Audacity of Hope" and during his campaign. For those of us who supported Obama from the beginning we understood that his was a philosophy that could only be described as radical centrism. Disillusioned with the status quo, as represented by either end of the political spectrum; and wanting to build a governing coalition capable of (here comes the basketball allusion folks) breaking either way on the basis of what works and what creates synergies with other dynamic needs within our society and internationally, Obama has set a course for real change.

For those on the left who complain that change for them meant that Obama would appoint a cabinet and govern to the left of the Clinton administration, I have two words: "louder please". As an unabashed progressive myself, I nonetheless see the gains achieved when other progressives start to whine. Their disappointment is actually an asset to Obama as he works to build a centrist coalition. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the approval polls which show Obama with a higher approval rating than any president-elect in recent history.

As for the folks on the right, well, lets just say that the Lemmings, led by Senator Richard "Dr. No" Selby are doing a very good job of setting up the bookends on their side of the shelf.

Obama, to his great credit, has not waivered in his resolve to create a team that will enhance his ability to govern. Just as he ran a campaign focused on not undermining his ability to govern once he won, so too have his appointments positioned him to walk into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue without the baggage of yielding to interest group politics on the left or right.

Jim Hightower likes to say that there is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos. No more. Barack Obama may be on the verge of creating a dynamic new centrism drawing on the examples of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Cosby and maybe even Nixon in China. He'll have a lot of latitude, given the times. It's a great time to be alive if you want to see history being made.

"Amsterdam Bikes"


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