The Radical Becomes Pragmatic
Kevin Baker writes in the July issue of Harper’s:
Obama’s failure would be unthinkable. And yet the best indications now are that he will fail, because he will be unable — indeed he will refuse — to seize the radical moment at hand.
Every instinct the president has honed, every voice he hears in Washington, every inclination of our political culture urges incrementalism, urges deliberation, if any significant change is to be brought about. The trouble is that we are at one of those rare moments in history when the radical becomes pragmatic, when deliberation and compromise foster disaster. The question is not what can be done but what must be done.
