[lbo-talk] Notes on an Orientation to the Obama Presidency

[Gar Lipow]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 5:18 PM, Adrian Doerr <doerradr at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "  Wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian
> centrism. (Although he himself often leads from the center, Obama’s
> center is a couple of notches to the left of the Clinton
> administration’s triangulation strategies);"
>
> as it's been pointed out over and over (and Mike Davis points this out
> in his newest NewLeftReview piece)--so many of the key figures Obama
> has surrounded himself with are seasoned Clinton-ites--how can the
> same people somehow yield a different result than "Clintonian
> centrism"?  and what are these "couple of notches to the left"?  if
> this is one of the key pieces of "evidence", its painfully lacking.
> especially when the admin is bending over backwards trying to
> everythingn it can to NOT piss off the business community--sounds a
> lot like clinton-ism to me.
>

There is a half-truth in "wrenching" theme. One thing Obama has done
is broken the grip of the old Clinton political machine. That being
done, he is more than happy to welcome many of the top people from
that same machine, because his disagreement was tactical, not
strategic or ideological. And of course that was a mistake, because of
your top people are their top people, many of your tactics will be
their tactics. Cliche warning: a difference which makes no difference
is no difference.