The Next Phase...now is the moment when policy smarts pay off.

The Next Phase

Presidents build their ability to govern by governing, and now is the moment when policy smarts pay off.

Mark Schmitt | May 17, 2010

The Next Phase


(White House/Pete Souza)


New political eras have a kind of Robert's Rules of Order rhythm to them. First on the agenda: old business. Then on to the new.

And that's the point at which we find ourselves in the Obama era -- we are about to bring the unfinished business to a close and move on to the new stuff. After the low-hanging fruit, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the three economic emergencies (banks, cars, and recession), health reform was the great task left incomplete by the previous Democratic administration and its predecessors. The policy structure and political strategy for health reform had also been put in place well before the 2008 election, by think tanks and advocacy coalitions and by the lessons of previous failures. Reform of the student-loan system, which brought an 18-year battle to a surprisingly quiet end, was also enacted in the safe shadow of health reform.

Disappointment in the administration has been driven by the momentum theory of the presidency -- the widely held view that anything that wasn't achieved during the first 100 days, or at least the first year, wouldn't happen. But political capital is not merely acquired by winning an election and then spent down. Rather, presidents build their ability to govern by governing. And the most memorable achievements of transformative presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan often came later, after the urgency and experimentation of the early months. It was the Second New Deal, from 1934 and 1935, that created the institutions that shaped future prosperity.

Obama was always the political equivalent of a long-term investor, better suited to the long, patient work of an eight-year journey than for the frantic, understaffed improvisation of 100 days. The perpetual worry in the first year was that, under the pressure of economic crisis, political backlash, and the heavy lift of health reform, Obama would never be able to get to this point, where his strengths would be most fruitful. To be sure, not every bit of old business is resolved, or resolved correctly -- U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and the Bush administration's damage to civil liberties remain open wounds.

But on most domestic issues, we can move into a new phase. In the first phase, what mattered most were energy, pressure, mobilization, and tactics to evade the political obstacles presented by Republicans. In the next phase, those things will still matter, but there is also a need to develop new ideas and strategies, to design the programs and initiatives that -- along with health reform -- will truly represent this era's legacy. This is the moment when policy smarts pay off.

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http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_next_phase

The writer makes some excellent and original points.

It's not a tough sell. But it is a complicated message.

Oh, I forgot. Can't blame w he was only the front man, Cheney was President.

between the two

the future..do get to see their hard work paying dividends.

How sweet to have a President who is into reality and plans for the long term instead of instant gratification.

to understand what he is doing.