Don't Let Me Down, Barack

In his column today, David Brooks picks up the idea that I suggested here, that Obama's greatest impact will be on the process of governing and not policy substance.

Barack Obama is a potentially transformational figure. In political style and intellectual outlook, he is unlike anything that has come before. On matters of policy substance, however, he’s been pretty conventional. The policies he offered during the campaign matched those of just about every other Democrat.

It's a good column. Brooks goes on to notice that the moderates in Congress, that are trying to trim and focus the stimulus, present a real opportunity for Obama:

The big news here is that there are many Democrats who don’t want to move in a conventional liberal direction and there some Republicans willing to work with them to create a functioning center. These moderates — who are not a party, but a gang — seemed willing to seize control of legislation from the party leaders. They separated themselves from both the left and right.

...Obama didn’t plan them. He didn’t create them. He isn’t yet leading them. But the gangs could be the big new fact in domestic politics. If nurtured and used creatively, they can be the lever by which Obama transforms the landscape of government and creates a broad postpartisan coalition.

We’ll see if he seizes this opportunity, or whether it’s just business as usual.

I agree. This is a real test for him.