President Barack Obama's Feb. 24 speech in front of a joint session of Congress not only represented a change for America, but for the Democratic Party. The candidate of change appeared intent upon returning the Democratic Party to its traditional beliefs and policies. He introduced a plan that would follow more in line with the progressive approach of both Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson than his moderate Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton.
In order to confront the current economic crisis ahead, President Obama boldly articulated that he would "act with the full force of the federal government." On Feb. 26, the 44th president put his words into action with a 134-page budget outline. The plan offers a blueprint for a significant increase in the role of the federal government within American society. While the vitality of this budget plan can be debated, the Democratic Party's seismic shift in policy cannot be questioned.
In the early 1990s, the Democrats were struggling to appeal to Americans in the face of an increasingly popular Republican Party. In an attempt to maintain their status as a viable option in a conservative time, the Democratic Party evoked numerous centralist policy positions known as the Third Way. The poster boy for this train of thought became former President Bill Clinton. In his 1996 State of the Union Address, the 42nd president famously concluded that, "The era of big government is over." While Clinton attempted to enact some liberal policies, including health-care reform, he focused his presidency in and around supporting center and moderate policies. Clinton was a major proponent of the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In addition, he supported numerous acts of economic deregulation, the most prominent of these being the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, both of which deregulated lending practices.
Unlike Clinton, President Obama refuses to make significant compromises on his beliefs, which he does not necessarily have to do. After eight years of conservative mismanagement of the federal government, the country has fundamentally shifted to the left. The Democratic Party's strong performance in the 2008 election has provided President Obama with enough political capital to enact his own legislation, mostly free of compromise. With such a commanding role in the legislative and executive branches of government, Obama and his fellow Democrats have already indicated that they will be taking on a very progressive load of policies. The Obama Administration has initiated and will continue to promote a legislative agenda that falls more in line with past liberal agendas such as the New Deal and the Great Society. While Obama and Democrats are forever indebted to Clinton for helping the Democratic Party regain its popularity, the new President believes that the circumstances have permitted a more aggressive approach to the nation's problems.
Just how far will Obama go in returning his party to its liberal beliefs? If his recent budget proposal is any measure, Obama might as well be standing on Johnson's shoulders. Similar to Roosevelt and Johnson, Obama's most important priority is reducing and eventually eliminating the economic inequality that plagues the country. The focus of Obama's new $3.6 trillion budget revolves around health care, education and taxes. He will be directing a staggering $634 billion over a 10-year period to health-care reforms. Also, in a desire to make higher education an opportunity for all Americans, President Obama will likely invest billions in public education and college loans.
In order to help absorb some of the increases in government spending, Obama plans on redefining the tax code as his liberal predecessors did half century before him. While approximately 95 percent of Americans will see their taxes decrease, the "rich" will be left to pick up the tab. At the end of 2010, Obama will likely allow the Bush tax cuts to expire and in turn raise taxes on the top two income rates. However, these adjustments will not cover all the spending. Despite various measures taken to curb the national debt, CNN has projected that President Obama will grow the debt to 5 trillion dollars by the conclusion of his first term. This spending is the most concrete evidence of a clear break between Obama's progressive agenda and Clinton's fiscal constraint.
The decision for Obama and the Democratic Party to enact progressive legislation is both a necessity and a risk. While the American people are counting on the Democrats for legislating change, they will at the first sign of failure cast doubt on the party in power. If this new progressive legislation fails to translate into economic success, the Democrats can expect their reign of dominance to be over far sooner than expected.
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Michael Bendetson is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
