pragmatism news stories on Newser

Whine All You Want: Obama Gets It Done

Matt Cantor — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:50:25 CST

Frank Rich and Paul Krugman can rail all they want, fueled by their disappointment that President Obama is no “Michael Moore in chief.” These “brilliant men" are “profoundly resistant to the core rationale of the Obama presidency"—a strategy that’s working well as Obama manages consistently to “get shit done,...

Obama's No 'Ruthless Pragmatist'

Rob Quinn — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:15:00 CST

Jonah Goldberg isn't buying President Obama's oft-repeated assertion that he's a "ruthless pragmatist." The president is an ideologue—"the most sincerely ideological president in a generation"—but his insistence that the facts are always on his side show he may be lacking the self-awareness to realize it, Goldberg writes in...

Supreme Wish List: Pragmatist, Easy to Confirm, 'Home Run'

Amelia Atlas — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:36:42 CDT

President Obama's choice to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court will be a pragmatist unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom, insiders tell the Washington Post. While Obama will not play it safe, they say, neither does he want a provocative choice that will create another partisan confirmation battle. "He's less...

After Big Promises, Has Obama Gone Soft?

Matt Cantor — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:43:00 CDT

During the campaign, President Obama promised sweeping changes and a new way of doing things in Washington—but in the Oval Office, he’s been noticeably willing to compromise, write David Herszenhorn and Jackie Calmes in the New York Times . While he’s not dropping his chief concerns, “The thing we still...

Bush's Failures Show the Need for Pragmatic Prez

Nick McMaster — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:06:01 CST

What exactly made George W. Bush such a terrible president? His unwavering commitment to his principles, Alan Brinkley argues in the New Republic . Most Americans favor idealists over realists, in theory, so the criticism might seem strange. But the presidents we remember for their lofty goals and convictions—such as...

With Obama, Introspection Makes a Comeback

Gabriel Winant — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:38:13 CST

Looking at President Bush gets John Dickerson wondering, in Slate, if anything complex is going on behind the simple facade (Answer: Probably not). President-elect Obama prompts a different question: “How much of his true thinking is he actually sharing with us?” Obama, unlike Bush, is deeply self-reflective, and seems to...

Obama Cabinet Picks: Seasoned and Centrist

Matt Cantor — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:13:37 CST

Barack Obama swept into office on a wave of left-wing support, but his appointments thus far point to a centrist governing style, writes David E. Sanger in the New York Times . In choosing Hillary Clinton for secretary of state and Timothy Geithner for Treasury, Obama seems ready to “govern from...

The Tug of War Over John McCain's Soul

Kevin Spak — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:49:23 CDT

Republican “pragmatists” are growing uneasy seeing John McCain consorting with prominent neoconservatives, the New York Times reports. They fear McCain’s foreign policy isn’t as crystallized as it seems, and could be influenced by neocon advisers like John Bolton. “It might be too strong to say a fight is going on...

The Executive vs. The Visionary

John Johnson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:29:00 CST

The choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama boils down to two fundamentally different views of the presidency, writes the New Yorker's George Packer—the political pragmatism of Clinton or the inspiration of Obama. Clinton embraces nuts-and-bolts governance and scoffs at political naivety. Obama has a far more visionary view,...