Comments on: Obama in power (12): more on that prize

By: Bina Desai

Bina Desai — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:01:20 +0000

Good piece from Naomi Klein on the (side-)effects of the Obama administration, in this case on international climate change negotiations:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/16/obama-isnt-helping

By: Dan Smith

Dan Smith — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:45:22 +0000

Hi Matt and thanks for the comment. But this is not about politics getting in the way of doing the right thing. Political leaders have to take account of political realities in trying to transform dream and manifesto into actuality. Successful political leaders manage to push the envelope of the possible; unsuccessful ones succumb to the power of the envelope and over-compromise. These thoughts apply to leaders and political programmes of any colour, regardless of whether you or I approve. Successful political leaders play smart as they push the envelope so they try not to strengthen it against them. What the Norwegian Nobel Committee did is strengthen the envelope against Obama. For those who support his programme this was not a clever move.

By: Matt Finch

Matt Finch — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:35:12 +0000

So, in essence what you’re saying is that the problem isn’t with Obama, but with the US senate. That smacks of politics getting in the way of doing the right thing – something I’m sure a significant proportion of the world’s population is sick of right now. But more than that, this is an example of a larger, more inherent problem with the politics system, not just in the US, but around the world. Rather than have a politician that sets low targets and achieves them, is it not better to have a politician that wants to achieve the big things, and ultimately make the world better, rather than leave it as he found it? And if they fall short of an ideal, but achieve significantly more than they hypothetically would have than before, is that not better overall?