Obama is obviously historical as the first non-white President, but he is also historical in his appreciation of the long view. In his remarks at Howard, that Jon Chait summarizes and excerpts, Obama is making the case for incremental change. I was having this argument with a Sandernista online last week - sadly on my phone, which limited my verbosity, my thumbs are only so fast - about the nature of change.
She had a number of points that seemed fairly fantastical to me - the ACA is not a "new program," it was identical to the Heritage plan, some stuff about Clinton scandals - but I know trying to change people's minds about "false facts" only reinforces those false facts. So I've tried to engage on the idea that incremental change needs to be celebrated. Of course, there are breakthrough moments, but those often come after a long period of slow movement. Like the slow thaw of a frozen river.
I shall certainly miss having a President who gets the Big Picture.
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