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Retooling a philosophy THE NEW VOCABULARY OF LIBERALISM

November 30, 2008 12:36 am

CHARLOTTESVILLE

At first glance, liberals had a very good year. Democrats expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress, and in what remains a breathtaking achievement in American history, this country elected Barack Obama, a constitutional lawyer and an African-American intellectual with a distinguished history of liberal activism. Not bad for a single Election Day.

But consider Oscar Wilde's adage that when the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers. Democrats no longer have the luxury of discussing their theoretical agenda; they now have to implement it. And their victory couldn't have come at a worse time for ambitious social programs: The bleak financial forecast all but guarantees that the president's main focus for at least the next year, if not his first term, will be resurrecting a flat-lined economy.

So what about the social programs that comprised the centerpiece of Obama's presidential campaign? Clearly, Democrats will not be able to afford to vastly expand the scope of the federal government without first stabilizing credit markets, thwarting mass foreclosures, and calming the apocalyptic mood on Wall Street. Fortunately for Democrats--and, indeed, for the rest of the country--Obama appears acutely aware of the challenges that lie ahead, and of the need for Democrats to retool the way they describe their own ideas.

Obama's challenge will be for his administration to present his agenda as an itemized economic stimulus package, with each proposal described in terms of job creation. For example, when Senate Republicans criticized Obama's plan to invest $150 billion in new energy technology, saying it would cripple an already weakened economy, Obama responded that his plan would not only reduce oil imports, it would create millions of "green-collar" jobs.

Rather than describing Obama's health care plan as a moral imperative, his aides emphasize that the Obama-Biden plan would save families up to $2,500 and provide tax credits to small businesses, thus alleviating yet another economic burden. By inextricably connecting the issues of health and wealth, and by re-describing his platform in terms of economic rehabilitation, Obama has introduced a new vocabulary for liberal politics that annexes what used to be the domain of conservatives--fiscal responsibility and reducing taxes--and re-branded it as a sort of New Deal revisited.

After the last eight years of reckless accumulation of debt coupled with huge federal spending, and a budget deficit that may exceed $1 trillion, Republicans will have a hard time clinging to their reputation for fiscal conservatism. If President Obama accomplishes even a fraction of his first-term goals of investing in new energy technology and building a national health care infrastructure, he could reclaim that title for the Democrats, and in so doing, he could further redefine what it means to be "liberal" in the 21st century.

This is what impresses me about Obama: A less disciplined or thoughtful leader might have used the economic crisis as an excuse to monopolize power or, even worse, to abandon his principles altogether. Obama did neither. Instead, he saw the current crisis as evidence that the future of liberalism depends on its ability to remain a flexible and modern philosophy. Liberals owe a great debt to the president-elect, not just because he won the election or because he represents a transformational moment in American politics, but because he has begun to equip Democrats with the vocabulary they will need to endure the trials of the 21st century.