How did it come to this?

It looked, in many ways, like a majority built to last a generation.

Obama was elected as the corrective to the Bush years. Yet when you’re the winner, the temptation is always there to see yourself as something more than just an alternative — something larger, like a paradigm-changer or a transformational political figure. And Obama wanted nothing less than a change from conservatism to his own brand of 21st century activism.

Advertisement

“When you win an election,” says political scientist Bill Galston, “you are always inclined to believe you won for the reasons you wanted to win.”…

Think back to the beginning. There’s an economic crisis, which the public believes Obama inherited. Then there’s his bucket-list of things he wants to get done. He has a choice: Handle the crisis or do the campaign to-do list.

And what does Obama decide? To do both. That is, the economy plus the rest of it — including health care.

“The irony is he didn’t even run on health care,” says one Democratic pollster. “In truth, it wasn’t a large part of the general election campaign.”

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement