agenda. The President’s moments

‘American exceptionalism’ is perhaps one of the most annoying, yet important concepts in contemporary global politics. First propounded by the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1840 magnum opus Democracy in America , the idea of exceptionalism positioned the US as an inherently unique nation on the planet: it was God’s chosen country, with the mandate to bring freedom and democracy to the rest of the world.

When President George W Bush invaded Iraq, his neocon advisers used the idea of American exceptionalism to gain domestic support for the war.

This silly idea that God chose the US as the shining city on the hill, as the leader of the free world, is deeply embedded in millions of American minds, textbooks and foreign policy. Republicans have often targeted President Obama for not believing in American exceptionalism and therefore being unpatriotic.

President Obama, meanwhile, had set out to redefine his country’s exceptionalism. Rather than pegging it to history, God or territorial expansionism, he had set out to position America as a global leader in progressive values. His own election as the first African-American president was supposed to be the starting point of this progressive exceptionalism. And yet, for much of his presidency, he dithered.

Electoral pragmatism overtook his audacity of hope. In foreign policy, in race relations, in LGBT rights, climate change and healthcare, Obama was unable or unwilling to push through the progressive agenda that he had promised. After over 2,800 weeks of a detached, disappointing Obama presidency, the last week of June 2015 changed things around on at least three of those counts.

As a result, for the first time in two years, Obama’s approval rating has crossed 50 per cent. Into his last quarter as president, Obama is nowhere close to becoming the lame duck his critics were predicting.

Obama’s blockbuster week started with the favourable Supreme Court ruling on his pet Affordable Care Act, that is, allowing state subsidies to more than six million Americans to buy health insurance. Republicans mounted a strong challenge to the subsidised healthcare programme — popularly known as Obamacare — in the courts.

His administration had to deal with bloopers during the online rollout of the programme, which hit its popularity. At times, Obamacare looked like it was destined to fail. But with this court judgment, it has become virtually impossible for the Act to be repealed during the Obama presidency.

After the policy victory on Obamacare, Obama showed that he really cared in Charleston, South Carolina. The venue was the Emanuel AME Church, where a few days earlier nine African-Americans had been killed by a white gunman in a racist attack. Far too often in his presidency, Obama had tip-toed around race relations. His own black roots had held him back from taking bold steps against discrimination, which research shows is still widespread in American society. He did not want to be accused of helping his own.

But at the eulogy he delivered at Reverend Clementa Pinckney’s funeral in the Charleston church, Obama shed his cautious tone, getting emotionally involved with his rendition of ‘Amazing Grace.’ The rhetorical flourish and messianic presence of 2008’s candidate Obama was back, when he reminded a grieving nation “out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for He has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind... He’s given us the chance where we’ve been lost to find our best selves.” For his efforts he was called Consoler-in-Chief.

The Supreme Court’s ruling to legalise gay marriages across the US topped off the fantastic week for Obama. The long-promised, long-awaited progressive hero glowed brightly in the rainbow lights that lit up the White House after the ruling.

According to a Politico report, many saw the influence of Obama’s Hawaiian roots in the success of his progressive agenda. Some 40 years ago the island had become the first state to require employers to provide health benefits. US’s same-sex marriage movement had also received a boost when the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that denying gay people the right to marry was a violation of the state constitution. Growing up with his grandparents in this multi-ethnic, progressive state (where the university football team is called Rainbow Warriors) had left a deep impact on President Obama’s worldview.

But in Obama’s recent winning streak one can also see traces of another sporting team, this one from his adopted hometown of Chicago. At their best in the 1990s, the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls were a fantastic fourth-quarter basketball team. In numerous games, just when opponents thought they had the Bulls on the mat, the team would come back with a stunning fourth-quarter performance to steal the match.

Like the Bulls of the 1990s, and with no more elections to fight, the former senator from Chicago may just be preparing for a rip-roaring fourth quarter of his presidency. Now, that would be a show to watch.

COMMENT NOW