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Age of Obama?
- Abstract
The future is now out of Barack Obama’s hands. How can I say this, given that his second term has only just begun? Simple: He has already set his course—and the nation’s. His second term will be dedicated to ensuring that the course does not change. Obama made dramatic alterations to the course of American history in the first two years of his presidency by increasing federal spending to an unprecedented 24 percent of GDP and enacting a government takeover of health care. In the next four years, he will seek to maintain that level of spending as his administration oversees and implements Washington’s effective digestion of the health-care system. That will be ambition enough for him, as it ought to be ambition enough for anyone.
Oh, he has partisan ambitions aplenty, mostly involving the takedown and humiliation of the Republican Party—hardening the impression that the GOP is not only out of step but also somewhat insane and occasionally evil into a well-worn cliché. But parties bounce back. Political and ideological eras endure.
About the Author
John Podhoretz is editor of COMMENTARY.
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