The Opinion Pages|Op-Ed Columnist The Incredible Shrinking Presidency JAN. 29, 2014 It was hard to watch President Obama during Tuesday’s State of the Union address and not see a man who has had his coat trimmed and his ambitions adjusted. He touted his accomplishments, as he should have, but in laying out the parameters of his “year of action” he outlined goals that didn’t ask America to dream as much as adjust to the paralysis, abandoning big moves for smaller ones. Republican lawmakers have made clear that they have no desire to work with him and that they have every intention of opposing him, even if that means the legislative branch passes almost no laws. And that’s exactly what they’ve done. In December, Politico put it this way: using “public laws passed” or “bills passed” as the measurement, “the 113th Congress has passed just 58 laws so far, the lowest since 1947.” So, the president pledged Tuesday that he would work with Congress where he could, but would move forward without Congress if necessary, saying, “Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.” His plans were noble enough, and they were poll-friendly — raising the minimum wage, working for universal high-quality pre-K, equal pay for women, a new “MyRA” retirement savings plan — but they are not nearly large enough proposals to solve our most intractable problems. There was only one line devoted to fixing our “upside-down tax code” for individuals, and that was in reference to the retirement account. Gone were the appeals to get Congress to have the wealthy pay their fair share. Last year, the president put it this way: “We can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful.” He continued: “Most Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents — understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share.” Last year, on the issue of new gun control legislation, the president said: “It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans — Americans who believe in the Second Amendment — have come together around common-sense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun.” This year, he mentioned gun violence only once, saying: “Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day.” The only big proposal that even has a chance this year is comprehensive immigration reform, and its prospects are far from certain. Last year, the president spoke extensively about passing immigration reform, repeating, “Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get it done. Now is the time to get it done.” He spoke about stronger border security, a pathway to citizenship and decreasing waiting times for highly skilled immigrants. This year, he spoke of immigration in a single passage, with no specifics other than to cite this: “Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades.” The president seems to have been reduced by the resistance. He seems to be concentrating on what can be done rather than on what should be done. This is a rational reaction, I suppose, to irrational opposition, but nonetheless it’s a sad indictment of our politics. The president has had failures and missteps, to be sure. Every administration has some. None are perfect. But the idea of grinding government to a halt in opposition to one leader — as Republicans have done — has been an extraordinary and infuriating thing to behold. And it has been sad to watch a president full of hope and promise be stymied at nearly every turn and have to reframe his objectives. 1Comment In an article this week in The New Yorker, Obama attempted to give context to his struggles and place his term in the long sweep of history: “And I think America was very lucky that Abraham Lincoln was President when he was President. If he hadn’t been, the course of history would be very different. But I also think that, despite being the greatest President, in my mind, in our history, it took another hundred and fifty years before African-Americans had anything approaching formal equality, much less real equality. I think that doesn’t diminish Lincoln’s achievements, but it acknowledges that at the end of the day we’re part of a long-running story. We just try to get our paragraph right.” The president who was fond of proclaiming that under his leadership, the country was beginning a “new chapter” on everything from diplomacy to climate change, is now just trying to get his paragraph right. • I invite you to join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 05:01:37 +0000
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