A Legacy Already

If Bill Clinton is as popular as he is today after failing to deliver on two huge campaign promises, health care reform, and open military service for gays, imagine how history will judge Barack Obama. While it is true that in fulfilling Clinton's agenda Obama had the benefit of 18 years of general public attitude shifts, the congressional opposition to his plans have still been strong. In his approach he was vilified by both sides for either causing detriment or not doing enough.

Throughout being called "disengaged" by members of his own party for his coolness Obama has steadily delivered on the issues for which he campaigned. Two weeks after being accused of weakness by avowed progressives for postponing a repeal in tax cuts for the wealthy, Congress successfully took up his cause to repeal the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. With the clock ticking down to Christmas, the Senate then immediately went into discussion on the nuclear arms treaty Obama is looking to have ratified. It may very well pass!

Obama's biggest challenge thus far has not been the predictable confrontation coming from the Republicans, but the flack he has taken from his own party. Impatience is part of what has stirred his base. The other factor is the tendency to focus on the news of the day rather than on the big picture. The most antsy progressives have followed and propelled an inaccurate narrative that Obama does not fight hard enough for what he believes in. They go through flashes of outrage when they see coverage of how fast his agenda is not moving or when there seems to be backward momentum. They are chasing the ball. Meanwhile, Obama seems to be studying the men on the field. Either that or every victory he has won has been by sheer luck. If the latter is the case he is the luckiest president this country has ever had.

On any given bad day people line up to eulogize Obama's presidency yet few proclaim a likely second term when things go right. If there is any reason why he seems disengaged, that would be it. If Obama paid his loudest critics any mind it is doubtful he would have racked up the successes he has. To justify their decision to be dissatisfied with Obama, the put off progressives deride what he has done as not good enough or watered down. Like the Republicans they have resolved to just be against him. Some have even chastised him for his Afghanistan policy, though it is the policy he campaigned on when they were donating money and knocking on doors for him.

It is Obama that history will judge and not the armchair chiefs of staff who give up on Obama on a weekly basis. The president knows this which is why he is playing for the long term; not just for reelection, but for the books.