To the left wing of the Democratic Party, Obama was a failed president. Why? Because, when given a huge majority in Congress and the opportunity to fundamentally remake America–to, in my terminology, put an end to the dollar store economy–Obama bailed out the banks and increased inequality. He asked for a stimulus that was way too small and then embraced austerity almost immediately, thus prolonging the recession unnecessarily. Biden, on the other hand, went big with his stimulus and embraced the concept of dramatically reducing inequality during the pandemic. He was the more consequential president.
Jonathan Chait is having none of it. In his view, Obama was far more important. His successes in staving off economic disaster in 2009 will be remembered far more favorably by historians than by the left. Obamacare is a far more significant piece of legislation than the IRA or the infrastructure bill. He accomplished this by moving to the center, unlike Biden, who moved to the left after he was elected. The lesson of this for Harris is that she, too, should move to the center.
Is either side reading history correctly? I would say no. The left is wrong to undervalue Obama’s successes in saving the American economy without much of a playbook in 2009. Yes, he bailed out the banks and worked with capitalists instead of smashing them, but that was the price of regaining economic stability; reducing inequality by turning the Great Recession into a depression and impoverishing rich and poor alike was not a legitimate objective. It is not accurate, however, to suggest that the successes of the Obama years were the result of moving to the center; Obama only managed to legislate when he had the huge majority between 2008 and 2010. After that, it was pretty much status quo.
It is true that Biden moved to the left, at least in rhetorical terms, in the late stages of his campaign and during the first two years of his presidency. It is also true, however, that he only had a tiny majority in both houses, and that his legislative triumphs were the result of negotiations with Manchin and Sinema and even with some Republicans. He was actually a more bipartisan president than Obama, the leftist economic rhetoric notwithstanding, because he had to be.
What can Harris learn from the supposed distinction between Obama and Biden? Not a damn thing. If she wins, she will be lucky if she has even the tiny Biden majority in Congress. She won’t be able to get much meaningful legislation through the system. Her presidency will look like the second term of Obama and Clinton–a little bit of incremental change accomplished through negotiations with centrist Democrats and a few reasonable Republicans. Her biggest accomplishment will be to keep Trump out of power, not to put an end to the dollar store economy.