So the answer is not drilling everywhere all the time. But the answer is not, also, for us to ignore the fact that we are going to need vital energy sources to maintain our economic growth and our security. Ultimately, we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure all and those who would claim it has no place. Because this issue is just too important to allow our progress to languish while we fight the same old battles over and over again.This is a common tactic for Obama, and one that he's used during his entire time on the national scene. He describes a position on the "left" (drilling "has no place"), a position on the "right" ("drilling is a cure all"), and emphasizes that his position falls somewhere in the middle. His approach, he says, is the pragmatic, centrist approach that rejects the extremes of both sides. By following a cross-ideological, if not bipartisan approach, Obama hopes to convince people that he's found the real solutions to our problems.
This tactic (some call it "Hippie-punching", where Obama attacks a strawman caracture of a traditionally liberal position) pops up in many of the President's policy addresses:
...it’s absolutely true this is a middle-of-the-road bill. This isn’t single-payer, which some people wanted. It’s also not what the Republicans were looking for, which was basically to deregulate the insurance industry, arguing that somehow this would cut down costs -- something that defies the experience of everybody who’s dealt with an insurance company out there.Even back in 2004, during his epic DNC speech, Obama was echoing this theme:
Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you: They don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon.The message here being that conservatives would like to waste your tax money on the Pentagon, while liberals would like to waste it on welfare. The correct approach--Obama's approach--is to do neither; He will instead make a conscious decision to always use tax dollars responsibly.
One positive aspect this rhetorical tactic has is that Obama, as the de facto leader of the Democratic Party, paints the entire party in this flattering light. While individual policy proposals, such as single-payer, may be thrown overboard, the entire party is spoken of as pragmatists, not partisans. It's no wonder that the Democrats still have a large advantage in party ID and their ideological coalition spans the spectrum from progressive to center-right, from Russ Feingold to Ben Nelson:
Fortunately, the Democrats are now pursuing an active, if not progressive agenda in Congress and have many accomplishments to their name. From the Lilly Ledbetter Act to the Affordable Care Act, the Democrats in Washington have gotten plenty done over the past 14 months. Many of these achievements have been with centrist ideas that would have gained vast bipartisan support if the Republicans in Congress were intellectually honest and weren't paid to vote otherwise.
In a way, I'm glad that the Republicans in Congress have rejected the "pragmatic" approach of Obama and have voted as a block against nearly everything supported by the President. It's very healthy for our democratic republic to have clear and understandable differences between our political parties.
Take, for example, the issue of Civil Rights in the 1960 Presidential election. On the one hand, John F. Kennedy, a junior Senator with few legislative accomplishments, was running for President alongside Lyndon Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader who passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, which had the goals of protecting voting rights in the southern states. On the Republican ticket, there was Richard Nixon, who had previously met with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at the White House and was the Vice President to Ike Eisenhower, who enthusiastically supported Brown v. Board and used federal troops in Little Rock to integrate public schools.
On a national level, there was little difference between the two parties when it came to civil rights matters. MLK himself refused to endorse either candidate, at least until the Kennedys, late in the campaign, became personally involved in trying to free him from jail. While there were large differences between the liberals and conservatives in the country over civil rights matters, there was no way to vote on a national level on that issue. Civil rights advocates around the country couldn't vote on their signature issue. Due to the fact that both parties contained liberal and conservative wings, it was impossible to distinguish between the two. Kennedy and Nixon, on this issue as well as many others, were almost identical, in both their records and their accomplishments.
The more the two parties have in common, the harder it is for low-information voters to make a decision in an election. Shortcuts, such as party ID or a candidate's personal background, help voters decide which candidate would best represent their interests. This increases their chances of choosing correctly. But if we don't want people using those shortcuts, then we must have clear divides between the two parties.
Partisanship also helps with accountability. If one party is in charge and can unabashedly push through their legislative agenda, then the voters know exactly who to reward or punish come the next election. When you have muddled legislation with a hundred parents from both parties, it's next to impossible for the voting public to decide who gets the credit and who gets the blame. While this may be a feature for members of Congress, it certainly does no favor for our democracy.
Today, Obama and the Democrats in Congress are passing legislation that they repeatedly claim takes ideas from both parties, from both sides of the ideological divide. If the Republicans were to actually support their own proposals, the Federal Government would be made up of one giant governing coalition where all legislators would be able to take credit when things go well and deflect blame when they fail. When there is no difference between the parties, people can't be expected to make intelligent choices at the ballot box, and therefore there can be no accountability.
I suppose we should thank the Republicans. By holding their breath and stomping their feet, they are the true guardians of democracy.
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