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)

Obama is a thoroughly modern Washington liberal. Despite his personal popularity and his success at the polls, he recognizes that, in large swaths of America, the very word “liberal” remains a pejorative term—especially when it is applied to programs aimed at helping the poor, the low-paid, and the brown-skinned. Operating in what is largely hostile terrain, the crafty liberal politician operates not by subterfuge, exactly, but by embracing subtlety, coöption, and compromise. He wraps himself in the flag and refers to himself as a moderate. He talks about “opportunity” rather than “equality.” And he tries to hit singles and doubles rather than go for the long ball.

Continue reading John Cassidy on Obama, an increasingly crafty liberal: http://nyr.kr/10rYhAY

Photograph by Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty

Both conservatives and liberals warn against the other’s threat to our country. Can they both be right? In today’s Daily Comment, Kelefa Sanneh considers democracy’s enemies: the lucky duckies, or the fat cats? http://nyr.kr/QpMqiP

Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo.

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