Obama’s Line in the Sand

American public opinion excuses little from its presidents, but, more than anything else and even more harshly than moral lapses, it punishes what it perceives to be a lack of decision-making: Compromise isn’t a strong Yankee gene.

Like all democrats, Barack Obama knows the risks of rubbing elbows with Jimmy Carter. The American president is certainly very far from beginning to resemble the former governor of Georgia, but he’s coming out of a difficult summer, during which time he lost almost ten points in the polls. This is a bad trajectory for which he is the only one responsible. Making a rare speech outside of the annual State of the Union to address Congress on the same theme that brought on a devastating campaign from the Republican right in the past few months: health care reform.

Paradoxically, the only president in modern history to have made changes on a grand scale in this territory is George W. Bush with complete reinforcement of health care for retired persons, which will eventually be extremely costly. Yet, Bush, in spite of solid ideological Texas Republican armor, was entitled to his share of attacks on the theme, saying “we are about to socialize our health care system.” It isn’t surprising if some see Obama as a “socialist.”

The reality is different. The 44th president isn’t going to revolutionize 18 percent of the American GNP, even with the rising costs of health care in the United States. Given the injustices of the system of health coverage, the relative modesty of his plan may shock Europe, where the model of universal coverage is unanimous. But it’s that universalism that offends the majority of Americans. All of his predecessors have clashed on the old pedestal of individual values when they wanted to reform the health care system. However, Obama has made this reform crucial criteria for the success of his presidency. For him, failure is not an option.