My sense is that President Obama wanted his administration to be the capstone of a century-long, progressive project.
He wanted to consolidate the federal government’s control over key aspects of our lives and prove, once and for all, that the country would be better off. Just look at what he said.
Only eight months after taking office, he took his focus off the economy and put it on what he hoped would be his single biggest domestic achievement: healthcare reform. He came before Congress and said, specifically, “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.”
It’s clear he saw himself as the latest in a long line of progressive leaders. This certainly explains the sheer breadth of issues he tried to take on, whether it was cap-and-trade or immigration or gun control. He wanted to lock in progressivism’s gains. But his ultimate legacy will be showing the country that progressivism in practice just doesn’t work.
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