Peter noted the connection between Obama and Sunstein's minimalism already. It occurs to me that some of his earlier work is germane as well. He was a leading light of the revival of "Civic Republicanism" in legal theory. A key idea is that politics can be more than bargaining on the basis of given preferences, that democratic deliberation can sometimes, at its best, be a locus for the transformation of preferences.
Some of our greatest political leaders, or so it seems to me, have been people who challenged us to transform ourselves. Think Lincoln, King, FDR. Some of us who are impressed by Obama see him as potentially cut from the same cloth. We'll see.
6 comments:
What is the potential transformation you might expect from Obama?
Dr. Quinn, I agree with your assumption that challenge is a powerful force in politics. I'm not sure why, but I think it is. However, I'm not sure where you see that challenge in Obama. He says change frequently, but how do you think that translates into challenge? Also, he may or may not belong in the group of Lincoln or FDR; I'm not sure I have any evidence by which to judge that statement.
Thoughts?
I think that it's pretty clear that Obama is not a centrist, but a man of the left. The transformative stuff would be using his great powers of persuasion to make the views of the left mainstream - that's all.
Don't get me wrong Dr. Quinn, I probably agree with you (but in that I don't vote in Ohio primaries, I don't have to decide yet!) And yes, Obama is a leftist; somewhere somebody ranked him the most liberal senator. Good for him. I hope he does use that rhetorical flourish of his to transform.
He isn't even close to 'the most liberal senator'and when people try to paint him a great leftist, I like to think how he got to be president of the Harvard Law Review, probably one of the positions in this country most filled with meritrocacy. Give me a break! He's actually to the right of Hillary and she's to the right of center. And he has a real penchant for Republican talking points, like the 'crisis' in SS, and how we should try school vouchers, and that the insurance companies should have a seat at the table of any HC debate!
Ahem!
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