Rose Twitter's Greatest Fear
Pragmatism.
Being a pragmatist means you are careful and deliberate in your work. You view your work in a calm and collect manner. You have a vision for where you want to go and how to get there. You are also realistic. You realize there will be setbacks and unplanned delays. You know that there are times you will have to adjust on the fly. You understand that new information presented to you will alter how you see your work and will require you to make adjustments. Even though others may be demanding an immediate product from you, you know you will not submit your work until it meets your standard. After all, it is your product and you are the one attaching your name to it. It must be done correctly or not at all.
Being a pragmatist has its share of challenges. If you are an introvert, chances are others in the room may speak over you. As we know, people tend to listen to the loudest voices in the room even if their ideas aren't all that great. Pragmatists tend to be deliberate in their analysis of a situation which can cause frustration for more impulsive team members. Pragmatists tend also to be non-judgmental and non-committal until they hear both sides of an issue at hand. This can cause distress among those wanting the instant gratification of having a decision being made as soon as a solution is presented. Pragmatists exist in a world that often times does not mesh with their own established routine for making a sound, timely, and ultimately correct decision that often has far-reaching implications. Time and time again, they have to fight off the demands of others to stay true to themselves.
Barack Hussein Obama is one such pragmatist.
In his recently release presidential memoir, A Promised Land, President Obama provides insight into his thinking around the major issues and events that shaped his first term in the Oval Office. From domestic issues such as the Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the Deepwater Horizon spill to foreign issues related to Iran, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and pushing for collaborative international action on climate change, Obama shares not only what his administration did but why they did it. In a way that no other politician of his generation can do, President Obama not only explains what he was facing in the moment but also the history that led to that very specific time and place. Because like any good history teacher knows, you cannot understand the present without first understanding the past. For President Obama, it is critical that the reader know just as much as he did when he made these fateful decisions.
What we learn from President Obama's memoir is the complexity of the issues at hand. It is not simply as easy as passing a new law, even when the proposed law has broad public support. There are issues around whether the opposing party will support it, which members of your own party might not support it, how the media will portray it, what compromise might look like, and ultimately how much political capital you want to use on something that may not work out in the end. For President Obama, these were all things to consider at a time when the world economy was in free fall, America was slogged down in two unpopular wars, and American leadership was being questioned on the world stage. Whatever "mandate" President Obama had to govern via the 2008 election results was quickly shot down with an opposition party that vowed to undermine him at every turn. What we saw with a razor-thin, veto-proof Senate majority for only 6 months and a suffering American electorate was a first-term president having to make critical decisions with little to no margin for error. One mistake, one miscalculation, and President Barack Obama would have been the one-term president that Republicans hoped he would be.
Fortunately, President Barack Obama is a pragmatist.
And as a pragmatist, he knew better than to make rash decisions. Throughout A Promised Land we see the thought process of a man who knew the stakes and who knew that whatever decision he made had to be made by leaving no stone unturned. A constant theme that emerges is President Obama relying on his team of advisors and experts to work through the problems presented to the administration. He creates a culture where differing viewpoints are not only encouraged but expected. President Obama also relies on Senate and House leadership to help push his proposals across the finish line and he even works the phones himself to capture key votes. He grits his teeth when legislation gets watered down but he knows that something is better than nothing. Time and time again, President Obama refuses to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Like any pragmatic politician, he knows that any law that improves someone's life is a law worth pursuing. As president, he knows that new laws have the ability to positively impact millions of people with the simple sweep of his signature.
Fast forward to today.
As we move into a new Democratic administration, remember the fact that Joseph R. Biden sat directly next to President Obama for eight years. He saw his deliberative process up-close. He was the last man in the room when President Obama made these difficult decisions. President-elect Biden is no stranger to the decisions a president will be expected to make and he knows the forces that will attempt to enhance or derail a potential new law or critical international action. We're already seeing President-elect Biden surround himself with capable adults, many of whom served in the Obama administration. That is no accident. President-elect Biden saw these folks up close and personal and he knows what to expect from them. There can be zero doubt that a President Joe Biden will hit the ground running.
There will inevitably be howls from the far-left over these next 4 years. But those howls ring hollow. Rose Twitter doesn't agree with political pragmatism because it is grueling work that does not provide instant gratification. Rose Twitter likes to scream and shout that Democrats should DO SOMETHING! but have no response when asked what exactly they should be doing that they're not already doing. Justice Democrats love to primary incumbent Democrats but refuse to run candidates in swing districts. Sunrise Movement loves to publicly protest Democrats but refuse to engage Mitch McConnell, who is sitting on a pile of unpassed climate legislation. Those criticizing President-elect Biden's cabinet a month before inauguration are doing so to stir up drama and nothing more. Their concern is not about the specific people being hired but the fact that they will be thoughtful, dedicated, and most of all, pragmatic. In short, their concern is that the new administration all be very much in the mold of President Barack Obama.
That scares them. It scares them because pragmatists like Barack Obama and Joe Biden get things done. It's why Hillary Clinton terrified them in 2016. All three have the ability to navigate the minefields of Washington, DC to enact meaningful legislation for large swaths of people. It's often a slog, but that is how our system of government is designed. Our system of checks and balances exists to ensure that the will of people is heard. As we've seen the last four years, that is not always the case. But a return to the dogged pragmatism of the Obama presidency represents a return to sound governance. A return to an administration filled with qualified and diverse individuals. A return to savvy, veteran political appointees who know the system and who know what needs to be done to achieve legislative victories. At the end of the day, Rose Twitter isn't afraid that Joe Biden will fail; they're afraid that he will succeed.
And if he succeeds with his own people and his pragmatic approach to governing, it means that their political revolution is no longer needed.