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Go Home Why Defending His First-Term Achievements Should Be Enough

JONATHAN COHN MARCH 12, 2012

Why Defending His First-Term Achievements Should Be Enough

BY JONATHAN COHN

Yes, we know we’re tempting fate. But we figure there’s a 50 percent chance Obama will get reelected, and in any case he needs an agenda to campaign on. So we’ve asked a number of TNR contributors to explain what they think Obama should focus on for the next four years—if he wins in November. Click here to read the collected contributions.

The strangest thing happened outside my house two hours ago. I killed a mosquito. In Michigan. In early March. If I had any doubts about what President Obama’s top priority should be in his second term, that moment erased them.

Scientists say this is the fourth warmest winter on record. By itself, that fact (like the insect I just crushed) tells us nothing about climate change, given that temperatures inevitably bounce around from year to year. But this winter's weather is part of a much broader, more gradual warming trend that virtually every scientist not on the payroll of a coal or energy company has observed. (See the graph at the end of this article.)

As you probably remember, Obama had hoped to make a comprehensive climate change bill part of his first term legacy. And the House, under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, quickly passed a bill that would have created a cap-and-trade scheme for controlling emissions. But Republicans teamed up with coal-state Democrats in the Senate to kill it. And once the health care fight was over, Congress lost its interest in sweeping legislation.

Unfortunately, Congress isn't likely to change its mind after the next election, even though the case for climate change legislation only become stronger. The reason health care reform passed in 2010, and the reason the administration had chosen to prioritize it, was a combination of factors: The industry stakeholders agreed on the need for action. Liberals had spent a decade organizing around reform. And so on. The campaign for climate change just hasn’t progressed that far. Until it does, significant legislation is unlikely to pass. 

So what might Obama do instead? I’d put in a plug for improving early childhood care, a cause that even conservatives could embrace and that, at the very least, Obama could help elevate. But I also like Mark Schmitt’s suggestion for political reform and David Greenberg’s suggestion that Obama take the opportunity to “talk like a liberal.” The expiration of the Bush tax cuts, combined with the impending sequestration of funds from last summer’s budget deal, means Obama will have a chance to make progress on reducing the deficit—just as William Galston would prefer. And if Obama manages to win a second term, his power to issue regulations would give him a chance to defend civil liberties in the way that Jeff Rosen rightly advocates.

But the chance to accomplish some or all of those goals isn't the main reason Obama's second term could prove so important.

In Greenberg’s otherwise fine essay, he suggests, offhand, that Obama “accomplished relatively little in his first term.” I could not disagree more strongly. Health care reform alone constitutes a major legislative legacy. The Recovery Act launched infrastructure and energy projects that could shape the economy and, by the way, education for a generation. The financial regulation bill created a new consumer bureau and a new regimen for regulating the banks. I could go on.

None of these measures went as far as they could. All demand careful implementation and, ideally, all would undergo expansion. But the Republicans have pledged to the very opposite. They’re going to get rid of these laws if they can, undermine them if they cannot. And don't let the recent poll numbers fool you: They could easily win in November, making all of this possible.

This election is about ratifying, and protecting, the accomplishments of last four years. For that reason, Obama’s top priority for a second term should be getting one.

 

Source: The National Climactic Data Center via ThinkProgress 

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22 comments

In less than 4 years in the Oval Office Obama has accomplished as much as any person on earth could have, especially considering that the Republican idiot who preceded him crashed a booming economy to the ground and that anti-American Congressional Republicans are trying their best to keep him from accomplishing anything at all for the American people. There are still going to be tens of millions of fools who will vote against him in November, but if Obama runs on his record and wins, America will survive the mess that Republicans left him in their arrogant idiocy (G.W. Bush was ignorant and arrogant--a deadly combination). Even the people who vote Republican will benefit greatly from another 4 years of Obama's leadership. And, oh, how they will hate their benefactor. We're looking at some sort of mental dysfunction here, kids.

- magboy47.

March 12, 2012 at 2:59am

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Wright, Farrakhan, Rashid Ismail Khalidi, Edward Said... Some of the closest friends and mentors of anti- Semite Obama and who writes about achievements of first term should be enough? Someone by the name of Jonathan Chon, I think I am going to get sick.

- Poupic

March 12, 2012 at 9:12am

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You're right: Climate change legislation, in all reasonable scenarios, should be our top priority. By now, we each have our own "mosquito story": Mine is the college student spotted, in a central Massachusetts January, shopping in shorts.... Later, it hit me: She probably had no idea how absurd she looked. Massachusetts has many colleges, attracting young people from across the nation, who may not realize that it used to be cold here in winter. *Really* cold. Also, in the past, we didn't have hurricanes (Irene), tornadoes (Springfield F1), or nor'easters before Halloween -- until 2011. So perhaps the kid was on to something: In the new normal, it was my *overcoat* that looked ridiculous.

- Wonderland

March 12, 2012 at 9:55am

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I agree with Cohn.

- maxhencke

March 12, 2012 at 10:37am

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Poupic It's "Cohn" not "Chon."

- Jonathan Cohn

March 12, 2012 at 11:36am

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Pay no attention to the man behind the Poupic.

- Nusholtz

March 12, 2012 at 11:46am

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"Wright, Farrakhan, Rashid Ismail Khalidi, Edward Said... Some of the closest friends and mentors of anti- Semite Obama...." This is obviously not true. His closest friends seem to be Whitaker and Nesbit. The truth means nothing to people like Poupic, just nasty obviously not true talking points.

- gwhitaker

March 12, 2012 at 11:55am

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I have long thought that the second term should be what most second terms are; a consolidation of the agenda of the first term. If the agenda is right, we can have a situation like Clinton's second term. If the agenda is like baby Bush, we have a disaster.

- blackton

March 12, 2012 at 12:21pm

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Dear Poupic, I have held my tongue long enough. The Shoah consumed hundreds of writers, artists, musicians and thinkers -- the cream of European Jewish intelligensia. As a intelligent, cultured human being, I mourn this loss every day. That a vile, little bigoted toad like you survived, and that you use the Shoah as cover to spew your putrid bile, proves to me that there is no justice in the universe. Please go away.

- zardoz67

March 12, 2012 at 12:25pm

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It's defending his first-term failures that he should be worried about. Like immigration, Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Israel, public education, veterans mental health care/suicide prevention/claims processing, mortgage reform and relief, lack of a real job development and training program, lack of an economic development/indistrial policy, privacy and "national security" issues still following the Bush line, selecting the most undistinguised White House and Cabinet personnel in recent history, and ignoring the few competent people in his administration like Hillary, Steven Chu, Christina Roemer, and Elizabeth Warren, not to mention treating his debt/deficit reduction commission like lepers when they could have saved him from himself, and generally keeping his head down when he should have been leading. Oh, and did I mention Syria, a good example of his Dr. Spockian passion and compassion, and his brilliant strategic touch on issues like contraception, making it a controversial issue again after, what, 60 years? .

- mlottman

March 12, 2012 at 1:15pm

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Perhaps global warming will cause some of those yankees to move back to the north. Know the difference between a yankee and a damn yankee? A yankee comes south and visits; a damn yankee comes south and stays. I bet most of those yankees would not have stayed in the absence of air conditioning. Or if the monthly electric bills in the summer months exceeded $500, as is common today. I grew up in Florida BAC (before air conditioniong), and while it's true that we didn't miss what we didn't know, today's summer weather pattern is far different from the weather pattern when I was growing up. Back then, we would have intermittent rain showers during the day, which kept me off the ball field and kept the temperatures down. Today, the heat builds all day long until, finally, the sky darkens, the wind blows, and the sky explodes. The violent and daily afternoon rain storms will scare the most intrepid. For those planning to attend this summer's Republican convention in Tampa, be afraid, be very afraid. My advice? Stay up north.

- rayward

March 12, 2012 at 1:40pm

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As a child, I was much impressed when I read Shirley Jackson's classic short story about ritual sacrifice, "The Lottery," http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html . It's a little tricky, with a black President in The White House, but even so, we need some sort of ritual sacrifice for a sense of purging and cleansing. Well, there is one Republican candidate who is a bit like a pig, reminding me of another cheerful childhood favorite work Lord of the Flies. Then, of course, there's the fine book/movie Treasure of the Sierra Madre. For anyone familiar with the story (and all its meditations on the curse of greed), we can apply it to any of the GOP candidates, but perhaps the richest one of them all might fit, and the "badlands" of Utah will do well enough for a staging. With live ammunition.

- skahn

March 12, 2012 at 2:05pm

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"Them Jews" was heard in the land and what did anti- Semite Obama do? He never again mentioned that the men he called his Spiritual Mentor that he cheered for 20 years. The Pastor who married him, baptized his daughters and gave him the title of his book: Gone! Never again did he mention him again. He was too dangerous for his election in 2008. In fact as a response he made his Philadelphia speech on race, the perfect straw man for the occasion since it successfully turned away everybody away from his own anti Semitism. The Republicans and Clinton's like dear in the head light were silenced in fear of being labeled racists. For those who still think Obama is pure and a lover of Zion consider this: Would a non- anti- Semite organize part of The Million Men march for Farrakhan? Do anything for this animal? It was a great success! Multitudes cheered wildly on live TV every anti- Semitic rant of Farrakhan. By the way, I was a Democrat for over 30 years. Volunteered to help candidates, volunteered for Planned Parenthood. Maybe one day I will return to the fold when the party is non-longer infested with anti- Semites. For me nothing is more important than never vote for an anti- Semite. Fighting for civil rights and women's rights time will come when anti- Semite Obama is replaced by a non- Anti- Semite. We lost one third of our nation not that long ago and today the world look and nod while Iran is preparing to use it's future nuclear bomb on what they call "A one state bomb.

- Poupic

March 12, 2012 at 2:29pm

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When everybody is an anti-semite, nobody is an anti-semite; those who charge everybody is an anti-semite, is himself the worst anti-semite.

- rayward

March 12, 2012 at 5:17pm

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Jeez Poupic, you really have gone too far for too long. Please read this, it debunks your assertion that Obama in any way, shape or form resembles the Farrakhans of this world. What you've done is swallow whole and regurgitate the worst of right wing bigoted propaganda, instead of looking at Obama, at his polices, or reading his words, listening to what he says. This is just inexcusable. So is attacking Mr. Cohn. http://www.newshounds.us/2008/04/20/despite_obamas_criticisms_of_million_man_march_raceobsessed_hannity_tries_to_paint_him_as_bigoted_soulmate_of_farrakhan.php

- Sophia

March 12, 2012 at 7:11pm

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Here, in case it doesn't show up properly: http://www.newshounds.us/2008/04/20/despite_obamas_criticisms_of_million_man_march_raceobsessed_hannity_tries_to_paint_him_as_bigoted_soulmate_of_farrakhan.php

- Sophia

March 12, 2012 at 7:12pm

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Anyway on global warming, the kidnapping of Israel by right wing religious nuts, etc, I am x-posting this from the excerpted article: It's difficult for Obama or the Democrats to do anything about climate change as long as powerful Republicans believe the Bible says not to worry about it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/senator-inhofes-th... Now, this is getting all mixed up with Israel? Help. I mean really, help. I don't think Jews or Israel should be associated with or held hostage by far right wing Christian politicians. As it is, because the far Christian right has "adopted" Israel, people who don't subscribe to their ideology are reflexively starting to HATE Israel. This is bad on so many levels; but one of them, germane to this discussion, is environmental because the Middle East is a key energy producing region; but also, water is increasingly scarce as populations there are booming and desertization due to global warming is causing droughts; and certainly there will be wars over both oil and water if we don't get a grip pronto and quoting Scripture isn't gonna cut it and nor is artificially dividing the American body politic on religious lines. Incidentally or not so incidentally, in addition to the Bible "proving" global warming is a "hoax," we have outfits like BP selling their stuff to Congress: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/bp-oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-oil... NOT to mention the fact that many coal-producing states happen also to be Red States, so that's a double whammy; plus, Fukushima Daiichi really put a huge dent in the confidence people have in nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. So aaaaaccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. PS, I agree, first President Obama needs to win the election and also, Democrats need to win some Congressional seats and also on the local level, because honestly, otherwise I think we're toast.

- Sophia

March 12, 2012 at 7:15pm

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zardoz67 "Dear Poupic, I have held my tongue long enough. The Shoah consumed hundreds of writers, artists, musicians and thinkers -- the cream of European Jewish intelligensia. As a intelligent, cultured human being, I mourn this loss every day. That a vile, little bigoted toad like you survived, and that you use the Shoah as cover to spew your putrid bile, proves to me that there is no justice in the universe." You are a sick human being, Zardoz if you are human at all. You go away, asshole.

- Packard

March 12, 2012 at 8:57pm

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You are also a coward, zardoz. You wished Poupic "had been killed" in the Holocaust along with millions of others. You don't even have the guts to say that you would have liked to kill him. You are a Nazi in your imagination and a dishonest one at that.

- Packard

March 12, 2012 at 9:16pm

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Gotta go to bed. I don't know if this is the right place to put this. With perhaps intentional irony, The Washington Post headlines an interesting article on campaign finance: 2012 GOP contest shaping up to be cheapest race in years All worth reading, but note this passage: Strategists, fundraisers and campaign-finance experts offer a variety of explanations for the tepid fundraising, including a weak economy that has strained donors’ bank accounts and, on the Republican side, a more extended primary season. But most agree that the biggest reason appears to be a lack of excitement among Republican donors at all income levels, many of whom have remained on the sidelines as the GOP primary battle drags on. “The most important factor has just been the weakness of the Republican field,” said Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. “You did not have candidates run that were well-known, with well-established bases of financial support. . . . Even with the super PACs, this is not a race where you’ve seen record amounts of money being spent.” Even the vultures are turning up their beaks?

- skahn

March 13, 2012 at 12:08am

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Poupic's entire raison d'être here at TNR consists of the following: "I survived the Shoah, therefore I have special insight into who is or is not an anti-Semite, despite any evidence to the contrary." That use of the Shoah is what makes him vile, not the fact that he survived.

- zardoz67

March 13, 2012 at 11:35am

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Or, to put it another way, Packard... Due to delusional bigotry, 6 million souls were snuffed out. I consider the books not written, the music not composed and performed, the art not created, the technology not invented, and the lives not lived, and I mourn. Poupic was given a gift denied to so many (included members of his own family) -- the gift of life. He has chosen to waste this gift spreading delusional bigotry. I find this obscene. If that makes me a Nazi, then so be it.

- zardoz67

March 13, 2012 at 1:47pm

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