Potshots

Maureen Dowd had a thought provoking column in the NYT yesterday. On my first pass through I agreed with her but upon further reflection I find her view to be simplistic, politically naive, and in line with those who unrealistically expect Obama to do everything now...

We may not have a “nation of cowards” on race, as Attorney General Eric Holder contended, but we may have a West Wing of cowards on race.

The president appears completely comfortable in his own skin, but it seems he feels that he and Michelle are such a huge change for the nation to absorb that he can be overly cautious about pushing for other societal changes for blacks and gays. At some level, he acts like the election was enough; he shouldn’t have to deal with race further. But he does.

His closest advisers — some of the same ones who urged him not to make the race speech after the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue exploded — are so terrified that Fox and the Tea Party will paint Obama as doing more for blacks that they tiptoe around and do less. “Who knew that the first black president would make it even harder on black people?” asked a top black Democratic official.

It’s the same impulse that has left the president light-years behind W. on development help for Africa. In their rush to counteract attempts to paint Obama as a radical/Muslim/socialist, Obama staffers can behave in insensitive ways themselves.

In conversations with friends about this topic my view has been similar to the West Wing staffers: Obama's actions (or lack thereof) on black and gay issues have been limited because like it or not, the deceitful shrillness emanating from the Tea Party and Faux News does get attention and as such, these political realities cannot be ignored in advance of a run for a second term. I don't call that being cowardly on race, I call it being realistic about American voters and logical about identifying priorities on a laundry list of important issues that need to be tackled.

I do hope and expect that in a second term (or perhaps after the midterms) Obama will come out with guns blazing on both of these topics and more. That of course assumes there will be a second term and that he won't be politically hamstrung by a less favorable Congress. Two huge "ifs."

Maybe he should be doing more while the Dems have majorities in Congress but then again his plate is pretty full. Whatever the case, I think criticism of Obama by the left should be tempered by the fact that 1) he's accomplished far more during his term thus far than almost all of his predecessors; 2) he can't do everything at once; 3) there is such a thing called a filibuster; and, 4) if McCain had won...uggh I don't want to even consider how bad off we'd be.

So for the advocates of initiatives on climate change, immigration reform, race relations, gays in the military, etc. etc., etc, give the man a break he's been in office a mere 18 months, your time will come.