Obama’s Third Way

The present crisis presents an opportunity for Obama to recast the traditional divide in American politics. Rather than the usual left-right split over the size and role of government, he has to address himself to the greatest problem most Americans have with Washington: they see their government as predatory and corrupt. They look at the tax code and worry less that it "spreads the wealth" than that it institutionalizes corruption through loopholes and special deals. True reform will mean attacking predatory policies and corruption, from the left and the right.

In the early 1930s, economic and political realities also suggested that the United States was poised for a new era. But such an era happened—and took the particular shape it did—only because of the skill and ambition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If he truly wants to mold the future, Obama will have to demonstrate similar leadership. His favorite thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote in 1841 that "the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation ... have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made … Innovation is the salient energy, Conservatism the pause on the last moment." To create a new governing majority, Obama must now embody the idea of innovation.

© 2008