Obama's Radical Transformation of America: Year One

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Joshua Muravchik. Obama's Radical Transformation of America: Year One

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Obama seemed to view America’s dire economic straits not only as a challenge but also as an opening for programs that Congress and the public would reject in normal times.

Despite these daunting numbers, Obama decided to make health-care overhaul the centerpiece of his “new foundation” for the country. The size and cost of the plan was reduced after the CBO’s bombshell, but when polls showed unrelenting public skepticism, Obama made another major address to Congress to shore up support. This time he turned angry and combative: “I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it. I won’t stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out.” Thus, having traduced and threatened his opponents, he added with homiletic sanctimony: “[W]hen . . . we can no longer engage in a civil conversation with each other . . . [w]e lose something essential about ourselves.”

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