Quote of the Day: Andrew Sullivan on Obama

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Like Andrew Sullivan, I remain fairly "bullish" on Obama, despite my own rather significant reservations. He makes a good case:

I think Obama's handling of the economic crisis has been about as good as it reasonably gets; I think his handling of Iran is equally adroit; I find his relentless emphasis on reality in Afghanistan a good sign; I suspect the only way to get health insurance reform is the way he has attempted; I think the stimulus was necessary and sufficient; and I think unemployment will be coming down when he runs for re-election. On those issues I differ with him on -- accountability for war crimes and civil rights -- I can see the cool and cunning logic of his moves so far. The depth and complexity of the problems he faces remain immense. Perhaps he will prove incapable of surmounting them. But his persistence matters here. And we are not yet a year in.

Well, it's not all that good -- his failure adequately to address "accountability for war crimes and civil [and specifically gay] rights" continues to be a major blight on his record, and I'm not terribly happy with a Wall Street bailout run by some of the very people (Geithner, Summers) who caused the problem, and profited from the disease, in the first place, and I think he could do more on climate change, among other issues, but, overall, I tend to agree with Andrew that, for the most part, "he is on the right path." I'm just not "absurdly confident" about it.

Obama has done remarkably well, all things considered, but there's a lot more to be done.