0 Responses to “More on the Tucson Shooting”

1. Brian says:

   December 3, 2008 at 3:18 pm

   It’s easy to be a “pragmatist” when you’re a legislator. Even easier when you’re a candidate. When you’re an executive it’s impossible. For the first time in his life H is going to be in charge of something. Whee.
2. Yehudit says:

   December 3, 2008 at 3:39 pm

   Another problem with “pragmatism” is that it’s capricious. It’s throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks (and as you said, maybe only for a short time). So businesses have no idea what to plan for since they have no way of knowing whether the government is going t stick it to them. So more stasis in the private sector.
3. Seth Halpern says:

   December 3, 2008 at 3:49 pm

   Conversely it encourages others to throw all sorts of demands at the pragmatist to see what sticks.
4. Abe says:

   December 3, 2008 at 4:22 pm

   Why do you struggle so with what is so easy to divine? Obama is a progressive pragmatist. He will help the auto companies, as he should, but he will do so with strings, also as he should. Conservatives are baffled by the smallest things.

   Of course, smaller proportions of Democrats and Independents are opposed to the bailout than Republicans (and who cares what they think). But when Obama goes along with a bailout despite its unpopularity, maybe you’ll learn that pragmatism is not the same as popularity seeking.
5. Adam says:

   December 3, 2008 at 5:32 pm

   And as a progressive pragmatist, Obama will keep pushing as far as he can–so those of us who don’t want to go where he wants to push better stop marvelling at his moderation and centrism (all pragmatic ways of laying the groundwork for a progressive push when the time is right) and start preparing to push back–to make it pragmatic for him, in other words, to do very little damage to the American economy and American foreign policy and security.
6. JM says:

   December 3, 2008 at 5:59 pm

   I love the idea that pragmatism is “doing what works” as if it is simply a choice to do “what works”. I am all for “what works” but the problem with life on this planet is that we can never be sure “what works”, and to the contrary we can usually be sure that what appears to work has some unforseen and undesirable consequences, too. Obama and many of his supporters appear to suffer from that common but dangerous malady known as “believing your own bullsh*t”. They tell themselves that he’s a smart guy and he’ll just listen to everybody and decide what to do because . . . he’s really smart. As alluded to above, making decisions is not simply a matter of being smart; executive leadership and decision-making is a skill in and of itself, one that must be honed by experience and guided by principles. It is a complete fantasy to imagine that a robust dedication to a process that involves hearing all views is a) some brilliant new idea for governance that hasn’t been tried yet; or b) a substitute for a guiding set of principles.

   All of Obama’s actions and decisions up to now (and they are admittedly few and basically procedural in nature) indicate that what Obama is really excellent at is politcal manuevering and covering his own backside. The assembled Cabinet is an exercise in inclusiveness and dedication to process. Those things make great copy, but they are not a substitute for a political philosophy. Most people are too busy complimenting Obama’s sharp political instincts to be terribly bothered by the inchorence of his selections. For my money it is the fact that he seems *only* to be able to make tactical decisions, even at a time when he doesn’t need to be concerned about internal or domestic policies (he’s got his mandate!) that concerns me.

   I have no idea what Obama is going to do, but I am confident that he will be excellent at avoiding blame for anything that goes wrong and taking credit for anything that goes right. It is his one indisputable talent.
7. Oakwheel says:

   December 3, 2008 at 7:39 pm

   Pragmatist or lacking in the courage of his convictions? Or maybe just clueless now that, for the first time in his life, he possesses executive responsibility?
8. JEM says:

   December 3, 2008 at 8:03 pm

   Abe – let me help you – what will he do when he knows something the public wants is bad. What will he do when, as in the car debacle unfolding, his union coharts want him to save them but the population says no (pretty convincingly), and he wants to “study” the matter. Of course that is death for the autos, and maybe that is what he really wants and is willing to convince everyone that it was just too quick to save. I don’t know. He is a waiter and someone who hopes time will heal everything, lest he be stuck with any baggage. He isn’t a senator or a community organizer anymore. He is the president-elect, soon to be the guy. You cannot vote present anymore.
9. deesp says:

   December 3, 2008 at 10:21 pm

   Abe – let me help you: “But when Obama goes along with a bailout despite its unpopularity, maybe you’ll learn that pragmatism is not the same as popularity seeking.”
   Well chosen words about “when he goes along” …led by the nose due to all those pay-backs he has to make. But when he DOES go along with all those *unpopluar* decisions forced on him by minority interests reflecting commonly known to be unwise and widely disdained viewpoints, THEN (maybe) you will learn that this form of pragmatism is nothing more than weakness…just like the others above have said.