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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumYes, Obama Won a Mandate
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109818/obama-wins-four-more-years-mandate-agenda-validation-obamacare#Yes, Obama Won a Mandate
Jonathan Cohn
November 7, 2012 | 3:22 am
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
snip//
Romney and the Republicans had turned the election into a referendum on liberalismnot just the liberalism of Obama, but also the liberalism of Johnson and Kennedy, of Truman and Roosevelt. They proposed massive, fundamental changes to the welfare state and wholesale rollbacks of womens rights, and challenged the philosophy behind such policiesthe whole idea that governments should act to protect vulnerable groups and to guarantee economic security.
It was a huge gambit. And it failed. But conservatives arent going to drop their agenda. Come January, Paul Ryan will be back in the House of Representatives, running the budget committee, and hell find plenty of allies on and off Capitol Hill. But proposals to make Medicare a voucher program, to decimate Medicaid and food stamps, to reduce federal spending by unprecedented incrementsthose proposals have almost no chance of becoming law, at least in the forseeable future.
And the most recent addition to the welfare state, the signature accomplishment of Obamas term, isnt going anywhere, either. Ive waited more than two years to write this sentence: The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. It survived the Supreme Court and now it has survived the threat of a unified Republican government determined to repeal it. Implementation of the law will present huge challenges, but, for the first time in a long while, the administration and its allies can focus on those challenges rather than on rearguard political fights to keep the program alive.
snip//
The election also sent a big, powerful message about what it means to be an American. The election of an African-American to the nations highest office is old news by now, but it remains remarkable, particularly given the feverish, relentless efforts by conservatives to paint Obama as un-American. And the same goes for Obamas political coalition. Lazy pundits have fallen into the habit of dismissing Obamas constituency because it cedes white voters, particularly white men, to Republicans. But Obamas disproportionately female, disproportionately minority coalition happens to be majority. And it's getting better. They are no longer the "other." They are the authentic face of America.
snip//
Maybe some moderates will react to Tuesdays GOP debacle by breaking with the Tea Party, and reaching out to Obama. Or maybe they will be too scared of reprisals from the right wing, as they have ever since Obama took office. I have no idea. But, whatever happens over the next four years, Obamas reelection guarantees that the laws passed during his first term stay on the books. That instantly makes him one of the most accomplished presidents of modern times. Already Obama and his allies have shaped this country in ways that will last for generationsmaking life more secure, and creating new opportunities, for tens of millions of Americans.
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