Obama the centrist. Or not. [View All]

With the election won and speculation turning to what the new presidency will be like, we hear a few admonitions to the effect that "Obama's not a progressive, he's actually a centrist."

I respectfully disagree. I don't consider Obama to be a centrist, nor much of any other kind of "ist," for that matter -- with the possible exception of "pragmatist." Or maybe "humanist." Obama is a game-changer, certainly, and I believe that the change represents a basic shift away from ideology to more of a focus on practical outcomes.

We've endured twenty-five years of divisive politics, with ideology acting as the club that pounds the wedges. Like anyone else stuck in an abusive relationship, we've come to accept the terms of it as somehow "normal." By now, it seems natural that we assume a political spectrum along which various points of self-interest locate and identify themselves.

From such a premise, it follows that political action and governance will consist largely of finding ways to aggregate a number of these self-interest groups into a power base sufficient to ram through some agenda or another. This gave us "triangulation" and "the constant campaign" that lasts throughout the term of office. Bush, Rove & Co. took the constant campaign idea to its absurd extreme.

In all this ideological maneuvering, however, outcomes are all but forgotten. In assuming only various kinds of self-interest, governance in the public interest fails.

Obama's great appeal is the possibility of a return to governance where outcomes matter, where there's a recognition that we're all in this together, where all points of view are taken seriously, if not always reconciled. It marks the return of a simple, yet essential criterion for democratic governance: the greatest good for the greatest number.

One kind of politics seeks to defeat the opposition; another seeks to reconcile the differences. I suggest that the latter is more suitable for effective governance, for achieving the greatest good for the greatest number. It also seems to be Obama's basic approach.

I have to admit I would prefer that Obama showed more signs of waving the progressive banner. But I also think he has something very interesting to teach us: namely, that waving a banner of any kind tends to be divisive, and if you get everybody to the table and let them show their best, you can still arrive at outcomes that are fair, sensible, empowering and humane -- the outcomes that most progressives would, in fact, deem most progressive.