The Beam in America’s Eye

“I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.” This vague desire had been stated several months ago by Barack Obama, while fears were growing that he would end up managing to be neither one nor the other. After his accession to the White House had raised virtually unprecedented hopes, he risked taking the worst of all possible paths: being booted out after only four years of a mediocre presidency.

The House of Representatives’ adoption of the health insurance system reform on Sunday does not guarantee the president four additional years in the White House. But it will position him well amongst politicians who accomplished what they had promised. In terms of what is routine in European health systems, the American reform may seem quite backward. However, it represents a tremendous leap forward, which frees millions of Americans from permanent anxiety. It was a beam in the eye of this country, which is so proud of seeing itself as a model to be followed by the rest of the world. The United States owed itself this liberation. Whatever the consequences, Barack Obama will have been the one who has made it possible, and who will — at the last minute — have carried its weight almost entirely on his own shoulders, even against the will of a large portion of public opinion.

But the paradox of this barely lifted beam (only partly, since the Republicans are still promising a cascade of appeals and oppositions) is obvious. It is this Barack Obama — so skillful, so determined and crowned with success — that Europe, in particular, would have liked to see return from the Copenhagen climate summit. It is the same Obama that one expects from now on to face the Iranian regime, the Israeli government and especially Afghanistan, in order to put an end to this war that is now his.

This significant success in health care, which represents the conclusion of a decades-long battle, could legitimately have seemed like the culmination of a presidency. But it is in some way only a foretaste, while the other projects still lurk in its shadow. Considering the expectations, Obama will still have to prove that he will be an all-out excellent president. During one or two terms.