Matthew Yglesias » Long and Deep: I’ve seen a certain number of news accounts trying to gin up basically fake tale of deep left-wing disgruntlement with the shape of the Obama transition. Other, more intellectually honest journalists, have written of their own personal frustration at the lack of awesome disgruntlement stories to write. To put that kind of thing in context, you just need to remember that ordinary people care more about policies than about politics and then read stuff like this:
Mr. Emanuel promised that a major economic stimulus would be “the first order of business” for Mr. Obama when he takes office Jan. 20. The focus of spending will be on infrastructure, specifically “green infrastructure,” which he said would include mass transit, upgraded electricity transmission lines, “smart” electrical meters that allow consumers to save money by using electricity at off-peak hours, and universal broadband Internet access, which he said would encourage telecommuting.
He stressed that the new administration would “throw long and deep,” taking advantage of the economic crisis to push wholesale changes in health care, taxes, financial re-regulation and energy. “The American people in two successive elections have voted for change, and change cannot be allowed to die on the doorsteps of Washington,” Mr. Emanuel said.
I think everyone understands that Emanuel isn’t the most liberal Democrat in the universe. And it’s inevitable that any Democratic administration will include some folks who are to Emanuel’s left. And here’s Emanuel talking about the need to “throw long and deep,” provide major economic stimulus, and to overhaul the energy system. And that was during a talk whose subject was the fact that incremental health care reform isn’t good enough! That’s a lot of bold, ambitious policymaking and as long as we keep seeing progress toward these kind of bold progressive measures of course liberals will be mostly happy with Obama.
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