Così Obama ha cambiato toni (elettorali)

Segnalo lo stralcio di una delle migliori analisi che mi sia capitato di leggere finora sulle elezioni statunitensi, pubblicata ieri sul New York Times e firmata dal columnist conservatore Ross Douthat. La politica economica c'entra eccome.

Barack Obama wore the first face during his campaign for the presidency in 2008. He ran on hope and change, not fear and loathing. He attacked cynicism more vigorously than he attacked conservatism (he even had kind words for Ronald Reagan), and painted special interests rather than Republicans as the main obstacle to the common good. He promised a chicken in every pot, an electric car in every driveway, the same health care plan for anyone who was happy with the status quo and a new plan for anyone who wasn't. He didn't just look to liberalism's past accomplishments and promise to preserve them; he looked to the future and said “yes, we can.”

Three bruising years later, though, the president will be running for re-election on the liberalism of fear. Whether in his slashing attack last week on the “radical vision” of the House Republican budget, his finger-wagging at the Supreme Court over health care reform, or his administration's transparently calculated outrage over the supposed Republican “war on women,” the incumbent is building a case for re-election that rests almost exclusively on the evils of the opposition. His campaign is likely to be a monument to what George Will has dubbed a “reactionary liberalism,” which defends the design of existing programs and the privileges of Democratic interest groups as doggedly as any monarchist defended the ancien régime.