For his first four years, after all, Obama did in fact do his best (his necessarily imperfect best—the guy’s only human) to walk the liberal walk. However, given the unique structural peculiarities of our political and governmental system… and given the unprecedented willingness of Republican extremists to exploit those peculiarities in order to thwart the wishes of popular majorities, walking the walk is like jogging in quicksand. You can hobble the hobble. You can limp the limp. You can stagger the stagger. But walking the walk is, shall we say, a challenge.

Hendrik Hertzberg on Obama’s inaugural speech, “a step in the right, I mean left, direction”: http://nyr.kr/118Avjh

(Source: newyorker.com)

Richard Socarides: 

No one anticipated it, but President Barack Obama used the occasion of his second Inaugural Address to give what was perhaps the most important gay-rights speech in American history…

Not only was this a call to end discrimination, but an unambiguous argument for the recognition of same-sex marriage across the country.

For more: http://nyr.kr/VMrdnU

Here’s a look back at how our cover artists have depicted the President since 2008: http://nyr.kr/XMWsPp

Here’s a look back at how our cover artists have depicted the President since 2008: http://nyr.kr/XMWsPp

In the past four years, the covers that feature President Obama, his family, and his political foes have taken many forms. Here’s a look back at how our cover artists have depicted the President since 2008: http://nyr.kr/XMWsPp