Obama's Anniversary

In the year since his election, most of President Obama’s main accomplishments are things that he and his party never wanted to do. Worse (from the liberal point of view), they have consumed the political capital that he needed to accomplish the things he and his party did want to do.

I have a piece in the London Times today assessing the presidency on the anniversary of the 2008 election. Excerpt:

In the year since his election, the President and the huge Democratic majority in Congress have done some substantial things. Obama did enact a huge fiscal stimulus at the beginning of his presidency. He continued the Bush policy of extending huge credits to troubled financial companies. He bailed out Chrysler and General Motors. (On Wall Street, the latter now carries the cruel nickname, “American Leyland”.) The trouble is that most of Mr. Obama’s main accomplishments are things that he and his party never wanted to do. Worse (from the liberal point of view), they have consumed the political capital that he needed to accomplish the things he and his party did want to do.

The President hoped to pass a radical healthcare programme by the summer of 2009 and then move on to climate change and some kind of amnesty for illegal immigrants. Instead, the health care debate is staggering into 2010, climate change action remains stuck in committee and amnesty has dropped out of the discussion altogether.