Why the Obama Strategy May Work

When a President is caught in a damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t vise – as President Obama was during the debt ceiling crisis – it’s tempting not to let him go. The right wing certainly feels that way, but the discourse on the left seems to be on the same track. Maybe it’s possible to raise the level of the discussion. One way is to see that the level of the solution isn’t found on the same as the level of the problem. Obama has taken that view as his long-term strategy. His position is that acrimonious divisions in government, which is the problem, can’t be solved by being even more acrimonious. His call for compromise, balance, and a reasoned approach to our difficult challenges is a sane adult’s way of rising above the level of the problem. (more…)