The Conventional Cynicism

Barack Obama is now making his head-snapping shift to the center precisely because he rejected the Clinton-Bush approach. During the primaries, Obama could hardly be called innovative. His main policy appeals -- higher taxes, the "renegotiation" of NAFTA, the filibuster of FISA to block "retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies," public financing of presidential elections, a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, unconditional talks with every world dictator -- were indistinguishable from those of many Net-roots bloggers. But while America is less Republican than it used it to be, it remains a center-right country. And so Obama has shifted, trimmed or retreated on nearly every issue that won him the nomination -- trying to compress a lifetime of moderation into a fortnight.

All this requires its own kind of audacity. As Obama explained of his NAFTA switch, "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified." There is a broad wink in this admission -- a signal to the political class that Obama gets the political game. And commentators who buy the conventional wisdom -- that all politicians excite the base, then move to the center -- find these shifts expected, even impressive. They supposedly demonstrate a kind of political and mental toughness -- the unsentimental skills of a poker player, which might come in handy during negotiations with the Russians or Chinese.

There are many excuses for political opportunism, but it is not a virtue, because it eventually multiplies cynicism. And it may not even be a political advantage for a candidate who has made post-partisan idealism -- rather than a policy vision -- the centerpiece of his campaign. As Mitt Romney demonstrated in the Republican primaries, a strategy that smacks of cynicism can become a public image, which can overwhelm a strategy.

I do not believe that Obama is merely a chameleon. His outreach to religious Americans is innovative and could be transformational within his party. His political success has sidelined the irresponsible, Sharpton-like wing of the civil rights establishment, which is an achievement.

But it is hard to avoid the feeling that Obama has gained the nomination without fully earning it. Unlike Clinton or Bush, his intellectual contributions have been slight. The wave he rides may take him far -- but he is not determining its direction.