David Coates

Observing Obama in Real Time

Here, expect to find a developing set of arguments on the best way forward for the American Center-Left. We will begin with a series of extracts from the concluding essay to the book titled Observing Obama in Real Time.

December 14, 2016

Reflections on the Obama Presidency: (4) Leaving Bipartisanship Behind

  (This is the last of four linked postings. The others are here,i hereii and hereiii) After all, it always takes two to tango, and the Republicans are now refusing to dance. Their ranks are too riddled with birtherism, conspiracy theories and latent racism to permit them to participate in any dance that moves to […] read more »

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December 12, 2016

Reflections on the Obama Presidency: (3) The Price of Moderation

(This is the third of four linked reflections. The first is available herei, and the second likewiseii) When examining the gap between promise and performance in the Obama years, the bit that isn’t the Republican Party’s fault is the bit that is Obama’s. And there is one – certainly from a progressive point of view […] read more »

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December 9, 2016

Reflections on the Obama Presidency: (2) The politics of gridlock

  (The second of a series of four reflections observing the Obama presidency in real time; for the first, see ‘The gap between promise and performance’i) It was never going to be easy to govern America in a progressive fashion, given the scale of the economic crisis left in place by the Bush Administration and […] read more »

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December 7, 2016

Reflections on the Obama Presidency: (1) The gap between promise and performance

  There will no doubt be many reflective essays written on the Obama presidency in the months and years to come; and in time, as more information becomes available, some of our initial judgments on the quality of that presidency will need to be reset. But there is great value in setting down contemporary reactions […] read more »

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