Obama’s Presidency Centrist, Pragmatic

I have observed Barack Obama’s presidential tenure so far and can reach only one conclusion. While he may have been a more ideological politician while in the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. Senate, his experience as a chief executive has forced him to make difficult decisions, some of them drawing him more to the center of the political spectrum. And that’s my conclusion: all of the crowing and paranoia from the political right notwithstanding, Barack Obama has marked his presidency as one of centrist pragmatism.

He didn’t immediately withdraw from Iraq, but instead followed the previous administration in favor of a phased, gradual exit. He has increased our military involvement in Afghanistan, not something one might expect from one rooted in leftist ideology. He was quite flexible in the recently enacted health care reform bill, accepting the absence of a public option as well as other weakened parts of the bill (as well as an assurance to pro-life Democrats in the House of Representatives that he would order the bill not to change the application of the earlier restrictive Hyde Amendment). He has also changed his stance about the treatment of detainees from our “war on terrorism” to be more closely aligned with how the Bush administration conducted the issue. He is very strongly in favor of enforceable sanctions against Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear bombs. He has strongly supported legislation that gives tax credits for small businesses. And although I personally disagree with him, he acted to drastically privatize our national space program. And his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice David Souter, Sonia Sotomayor, is a strong “law-and-order” judge.

So all of the ranting by the Beck/Limbaugh/Hannity wingnuts and the teabaggers aside, Barack Obama is turning out to be a president of all, with his motto apparently being “gather all of the facts and then make the best possible decision” from them. I can handle that, how about you?