The Radical Centrist

Obama is clearly not a socialist. But there is a populist backlash rising in America and his pro-market, centrist, non-divisive approach has run into this growing outrage. It is political suicide not to respond or, at the very least, appear to be supportive of this growing wave of anger and outrage (i.e. just look at those Republicans, they seem to be doing just great;).

Unfortunately, I think he is burning the candle at both ends so to speak. On the one hand, he is aggressively laying out plans to subsidize green technology, pour more money into schools, revamp the health care system, and come to the aid of individual homeowners faced with foreclosure. But on the other hand, he is probably going to ask Congress for more money for the likes of AIG and GM. In addition, he is desperately trying to avoid nationalizing banks (although at this point some level of nationalization is inevitable and to some extent has already happened).

Ultimately, he is trying to do everything in a hope that something will stick (just look over the content of that stimulus bill). The lingering question with all of this is how long can Obama walk this tight rope between quelling populist outrage while still bolstering Wall Street? So far, Obama seems to be the right radical centrist for the job, but popular opinion can change quickly--especially if the economy continues to spiral downward. Pressure may build for him to make a choice, which makes me very grateful that I am just a lowly teacher of the dismal science.