Published: September 6, 2012 118 Comments
In 2008, Barack Obama arrived at his convention in Denver trying to remake a drifting Democratic Party in his own image and to convince dubious voters that he could govern the country. President Obama went to his convention in Charlotte, N.C., still struggling to lead and revive that same party and, once again, to convince voters that he can govern a country more bitterly divided than it was in 2008.
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Excerpts of the speech released Thursday evening show that Mr. Obama’s argument will be a reversal of his appeal in 2008. Gone is the talk of hope and change, replaced by tough choices and paths that are not “quick or easy.”
“You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear,” he said. “You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades.”
The dilemma Mr. Obama faces in his re-election is that he has been far more successful at meeting those challenges than his opponents claim, but far less successful than he needs to be at making voters see that.
He took to his convention an actual record at governing — not just the Republican posture of saying “No” to everything. He has far better ideas about how to create jobs, make Americans’ tax burdens more equitable and improve ordinary Americans’ economic prospects than the tired, failed trickle-down fantasies served up by Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
He ended the war in Iraq, tried to rescue the Afghan war that President George W. Bush bungled, stepped up the offensive on terrorists far beyond Mr. Bush’s vision and rallied the world to ratchet up pressure on Iran. He blunted the extreme message of the Tea Party by offering an alternative vision of government’s power — and obligation — to help the neediest, provide everyone with the basic structures of society and the economy and end unconscionable discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans. He has protected women’s constitutional rights and liberties, despite his own misgivings about abortion.
Yet Mr. Obama is still struggling to make voters see beyond the sluggish recovery and his political pratfalls. His big night at the convention this year is every bit as fraught with uncertainty and risk as was his 2008 convention address.
After he was elected, Mr. Obama allowed himself to believe in his own legend, cheered on by the hundreds of thousands of adoring supporters who thronged his inauguration, by the sheer magnificence of the swearing-in of an African-American president. It was as though he concluded that his election by itself changed the world and had fulfilled his promise of a postpartisan era.
The president and his tight inner circle were oblivious to the Republicans’ explicit warning that he would not get the slightest cooperation from a party and a Congressional caucus driven by an implacable hatred of Mr. Obama that is mostly ideological but also fueled by his race. It took nearly three years for the Obama team to recognize that central fact.
Mr. Obama won passage of an economic recovery bill that not only warded off depression, but actually created jobs, and of a health care reform law that is essential to the long-term economic health of the country. But he ceded the details of lawmaking to Congress, where leaders of his own party did not fully step up to the moment and Republicans stood in stone-wall opposition.
And he ceded the national debate on central issues to those same Republicans, mired in his belief that the force of his intellect could melt their obstructionism. It happened on health care, on the stimulus, on the Bush tax cuts, on the debt ceiling. Mr. Obama allowed his opponents to define the argument and so define him.
He fought for economic stimulus, and for the re-regulation of an out-of-control financial industry. But he settled for less than he should have in both areas, and he appointed an economic team that led him to play down the plight of ordinary homeowners as they sank deeper into debt.
Former President Bill Clinton showed Mr. Obama the path. On Wednesday night, Mr. Clinton fought back against the Republicans on Medicaid and Medicare, two areas where the Obama campaign has failed to get real traction. He made the argument for health care reform, financial re-regulation and fair taxation, all while firing up a crowd eager to roar.
That is Mr. Obama’s challenge in Charlotte — and for the next two months.
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