Amidst a column meant to talk liberals down from expressing their opinions on things, Michael Cohen makes a point worth examining. "Obama has set out to be President of all America," he writes, "and it's small wonder that a 53% candidate now enjoys 70% approval ratings." It's worth putting this into perspective. In 2000, while his administration was transitioning into office, George W. Bush, who had lost the popular vote, had a 65 percent approval rating. Eight years before that, Clinton, who had won merely 45 percent of the vote, had a 68 percent approval rating. Which is not to dismiss Obama's achievements, nor the skill with which he's handled transition. But it's easier to be the symbolic president of the country then it is to govern this sprawling, fractious place. Indeed, the whole "President of all America" descriptor is popular these days, but a bit vague for my tastes. You're president of all America when you win more than 270 votes in the electoral college. Not when people stop disagreeing with your agenda. There's a tendency to downplay the degree to which America is riven by legitimate disagreements over the path forward. Those who think the occasional moment of symbolic outreach to Rick Warren will overwhelm arguments over socialized health care, or taxes, or abortion, aren't paying respect to our essential commonalities so much as dismissing genuine arguments. Few in this country battle to see their policy preferences respected. They battle to see them enacted.Obama's approval rating will fall. 70+ percent of the country doesn't agree on all that much. They sit atop that peak not because he's managed to defuse the debates that split our country, but because he's not had to engage them yet. But he will. And when that days comes, and he's at 54 percent, or 48 percent, he'll still be president of all America. PRESIDENT OF ALL AMERICA.
Amidst a column meant to talk liberals down from expressing their opinions on things, Michael Cohen makes a point worth examining. "Obama has set out to be President of all America," he writes, "and it's small wonder that a 53% candidate now enjoys 70% approval ratings." It's worth putting this into perspective. In 2000, while his administration was transitioning into office, George W. Bush, who had lost the popular vote, had a 65 percent approval rating. Eight years before that, Clinton, who had won merely 45 percent of the vote, had a 68 percent approval rating. Which is not to dismiss Obama's achievements, nor the skill with which he's handled transition. But it's easier to be the symbolic president of the country then it is to govern this sprawling, fractious place. Indeed, the whole "President of all America" descriptor is popular these days, but a bit vague for my tastes. You're president of all America when you win more than 270 votes in the electoral college. Not when people stop disagreeing with your agenda. There's a tendency to downplay the degree to which America is riven by legitimate disagreements over the path forward. Those who think the occasional moment of symbolic outreach to Rick Warren will overwhelm arguments over socialized health care, or taxes, or abortion, aren't paying respect to our essential commonalities so much as dismissing genuine arguments. Few in this country battle to see their policy preferences respected. They battle to see them enacted.Obama's approval rating will fall. 70+ percent of the country doesn't agree on all that much. They sit atop that peak not because he's managed to defuse the debates that split our country, but because he's not had to engage them yet. But he will. And when that days comes, and he's at 54 percent, or 48 percent, he'll still be president of all America. 
