Obama Moves Toward Sweeping Ideological ChangeBy Jim Malone
Washington
04 March 2009
President Barack Obama's plan to use the government to jolt the faltering U.S. economy back to life signals the most significant ideological shift in Washington since President Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981.
Candidate Obama promised sweeping change during last year's presidential election, and the scope of that change was on full display in President Obama's recently released 10-year budget plan.
In it, Mr. Obama pledged massive government spending, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy and large budget deficits.
The president says the economy has grown so weak that only the government can provide the spark to bring it back to life.
"At this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life," he said.
At the same time, President Obama has promised to tackle a number of difficult long- term challenges facing the country, like expanding health care coverage while trying to contain its growing cost, make the U.S. more energy independent and reform education.
It seems like a lot to do all at once, says Fred Barnes, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard.
But Barnes told VOA's Issues in the News program that the president is right to make an early push for his entire agenda.
"There has been a debate on what strategy to follow, and he is following the one that says we are going to do everything at once rather than doing things one at a time, say with taxes or health care, the environmental agenda or whatever," said Barnes.
Barnes is quick to add that he thinks the Obama agenda is too liberal and may be picked apart by opposition Republicans in Congress.
Conservatives are already mobilizing against the Obama budget plan, including talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh recently whipped an audience of conservative activists into a frenzy in Washington with a no-holds barred critique of President Obama.
"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed," asked Limbaugh.
Even if only portions of the Obama agenda are enacted into law by Congress, it would represent the most sweeping ideological change since conservative Ronald Reagan's emphasis on tax cuts and domestic spending cuts in the early 1980s.
Some analysts are comparing the Obama approach to the one President Franklin Roosevelt took during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
"Now on some level, we accept that the federal government for the most part, not everyone does, obviously, but we accept that the federal government has a role to play in a time of economic crisis, which was much more debatable in early 1933," said Matt Dallek, political historian at the University of California's Washington Center.
But that debate appears to be resurfacing in 2009, at least among some Republican congressional leaders.
Republican Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin says enactment of the Obama budget plan would lead to the largest expansion of government since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
So far, though, many analysts believe that Mr. Obama has done an effective job of making the case for sweeping government action to try and end the recession.
"It seems to me, fair or not, that a majority of the country has decided that Obama is the last best hope to get us out of this mess, or if not the best hope, the only hope for four years," said Tom DeFrank, Washington bureau chief for the New York Daily News.
Two new polls seem to bolster that point. The president enjoys a 60 percent job approval rating in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, and a 59 percent approval rating in the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown says Mr. Obama's personal ratings suggest stronger public support for him than for his economic program.
"There is much more of a public relations job that is needed to convince the public. And at this point, he is doing it because people want to see him succeed. The fact that he is doing as well as he is among non-Democrats shows that people at this point are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt," Brown said.
Political experts may differ on Mr. Obama's approach of trying to do everything at once on the economy, but there is general agreement that the new president's strategy is bold and potentially risky.
"Whether this president succeeds or fails, he's going to do it in historic proportions. It seems to me that in a sense, it is another New Deal or Great Society. You may support it. You may oppose it. But it is big," says Larry Sabato, who directs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
And with a big plan comes big risk. President Obama is banking on an improvement in the domestic economy before public support for him and his policies begins to ebb in the opinion polls.
奥巴马走向美国意识形态大变革
奥巴马总统打算利用政府力量来让举步维艰的美国经济重获新生，显示了1981年里根总统上台以来美国在意识形态上的最大变迁。
在去年的总统大选中，当时还是候选人的奥巴马承诺将进行大规模的改革。改革的规模在奥巴马总统最近公布的10年预算计划中得到了全面体现。
*企业欲振乏力 经济复苏需靠政府*
在这份计划中，奥巴马承诺大幅增加政府开支，提高对公司和富裕阶层的征税，并扩大预算赤字。奥巴马总统说，经济是如此羸弱，只有政府才有能力使其起死回生。奥巴马说：
“这是一个特殊的时刻，私营部门因为这次的经济衰退变得如此羸弱，联邦政府是唯一拥有资源让经济复苏的实体。”
与此同时，奥巴马总统还承诺解决美国长期面临的几大挑战，比如，扩大健康保险的范围，并控制保险费用上涨，促进美国的能源独立以及推进教育改革等。
*多管齐下*
保守派杂志标准周刊的编辑巴尔内斯说，看起来，奥巴马是打算多管齐下。巴尔内斯在接受美国之音采访时说，总统尽早推出他的一整套方案是对的。他说：
“对采取何种策略向来就有争议，他采取的策略就是多管齐下，而不是个个击破，不是一次只解决一个问题，比如税收、健康保险，环境保护等问题。”
巴尔内斯补充说，他认为奥巴马的计划过于自由开放， 可能会遭到国会共和党人强烈反对。
*保守派抨击*
保守派已经在动员反对奥巴马预算计划， 这些人当中包括访谈节目主持人拉什·林堡。林堡最近对总统进行了毫不留情的攻击，令华盛顿保守派活动人士欣喜若狂。林堡说：
“为什么说实话就那么古怪呢？我直说，我就希望奥巴马失败，如果他的使命只是重建和改组这个国家，从而颠覆资本主义和个人自由这两大国家基石，我为什么要希望他成功呢？”
*背离里根 走向罗斯福*
奥巴马的计划即使只是部分得到国会批准生效，这也将代表着里根总统以来意识形态的最大变化。里根在1980年代强调减税和削减国内开支。
一些分析人士把奥巴马的举措与富兰克林.罗斯福总统在1930年代大萧条时期推行的措施相提并论。加利福尼亚大学华盛顿中心研究政治的历史学家马特·达莱克说：
“现在在某种程度上，我们接受联邦政府的大部分做法，但是，并不是每个人都这样。 很明显，我们接受联邦政府在经济危机时应当承担责任。这一点，在1933年初曾引发更大的争论。”
但是，这种争论看起来在2009年又卷土重来了，至少是在一些共和党国会领袖中间。
共和党人众议员、来自威斯康辛州的保罗·瑞恩说，一旦奥巴马的预算计划得以实施，这将是罗斯福总统施行新政以来，政府权力的最大扩张。
*多数人众望所归*
尽管如此，许多分析人士相信，奥巴马确实作了很多有效的工作，说服各界必须通过大规模政府行动来结束经济衰退。
纽约每日新闻报华盛顿分社的汤姆·德弗兰克说：“在我看来，不管公平与否，在这个国家，大部分人认定奥巴马是带领我们走出泥潭的最后的也是最好的选择。即使不是最好的希望，也是接下来四年的唯一希望。”
最近公布的两个民意测验似乎进一步加强了这个论点， 在华尔街日报和全国广播公司新闻网的联合调查中，奥巴马的支持率为60%。康涅狄克州奎尼皮亚克大学最近一次的全国调查也发现，奥巴马的支持率为59%。
*大计划 大风险 抢时间*
尽管政治分析人士对奥巴马试图多管齐下处理经济问题的做法有不同意见，但是他们似乎都一致认定，新总统的战略很大胆，也有潜在的风险。维吉尼亚大学政治中心主任萨巴托说：
“不管总统成败与否，他将要做的是具有历史意义的。在我看来，这是另一次‘新政’，或是‘大社会’，你可能会支持它，也可能反对它，但是，它的确是个庞大的计划。”
庞大的计划伴随着巨大的风险。奥巴马总统现在把希望寄托于改善国内经济上，并要抓紧公众对他和他政策的支持率尚未退潮的时机来实现这一目标。 |
