I long ago stopped hoping that Barack Obama would make more of an ideological case for his policies, in order to make people understand that progressive ideals are worthwhile and conservative ones inherently problematic. He did so during the 2008 campaign, but since being elected, he has gone all-in on the nonpartisan strategy, and for better or worse, he isn't turning back. By "the nonpartisan strategy," what I mean is that in his rhetoric, he always describes what he's doing as moderate and reasonable and presents himself as the middle point between the partisan poles. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes it's not. But you can barely get him to utter the word "Republican" when criticizing his opponents.
