The Grand Obama Project: Two constraints
Republicans control the House and there isn't enough money
This is the first in what will I hope be an occasional series of posts about President Obama's fundamental project: Where he wants to lead the country and what he hopes the government will look like after he leaves office. His "project" encompasses more than his policies. It is better described as the deep structure of the state that the next president will inherit. Think of it as my best guess at the motivations for the president's judgments, not just on moment-to-moment decisions, but also about which decisions to make and when to make them.
Obama, of course, cannot do whatever he wants. There are several statutory constraints. He is not a dictator. He cannot destroy the Republican Party, or completely remake the Democratic Party in his own image. He does not have the benefit of being able to see that his policies are always carried out the way he wishes them to be carried out. He is not God; he does not control the weather, natural disasters, and other events that will intrude into his mindscape. These limits are obvious; all presidents face them.
The Obama Project has two constraints that will always limit its ambition. One is the control of the House of Representatives by Republicans. Absent a significant shift in micro-political trends, Democrats will probably not be in a position to take control of the House in 2014, although they may come close. Because Republicans control the House, there are certain things that Obama wants to accomplish legislatively that instead he will try to accomplish unilaterally. We are seeing three of these issues play out today: gun control, immigration, and climate change.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That last one is the biggest. Even many House Democrats don't want to vote on a major carbon tax scheme or something equivalent to it. A Senate-passed bill may get to the House, but the Republicans who control the committees will simply not budge in any constructive way. The president probably does not have time to persuade Americans to punish Republicans for their policy indiscretions. Instead, he will alter the standards that auto-makers must build cars to, the amount of emissions allowed by coal plants, the degree of regulatory scrutiny that carbon-producing industries undertake, and the amount of money spent the government to fund basic research into carbon capture and alternative energies.
Constraint two is that there will not be enough money to accomplish Big Things anymore. The sluggish economic growth imposes limits on the art of the possible. It encourages gridlock and partisanship because it reduces the room for compromise. There will be no new entitlements passed; the Republicans do get to dictate (to some degree) how spending restraints are put into place because there is not enough money; taxes cannot be raised significantly because the recovery is fragile enough to be pushed back into a recession. Executive branch economic interventions will therefore be limited in scope.
The upshot is that Obama's Project is fettered. He will not waste time on policies or rhetoric that ignores the natural and artificial limits on his power.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
Kerala: one Indian state, four exhilarating ways
The Week Recommends The southwestern region pretty much has it all, from beachfront, to port metropolis, to verdant mountainside
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Is a high-yield savings account worth having?
The Explainer They can pay up to 10 times more than a standard savings account
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: April 15, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published