Steven Kurlander: Obama will push to advance his vision of America

January 10, 2013|By Steven Kurlander

With the angst over the fiscal cliff done for the time being, the fight won — and the carnage adding to the terrible dysfunction in Washington — you'd think President Obama would be looking to devise a less confrontational result in terms of the upcoming debates over major issues like the postponed sequestration, gun control and the raising of the debt ceiling.

After all, he campaigned on the premise he would try to take the high road in trying to reduce the contentious atmosphere in the nation's capitol.

During his first three years in office, he in fact took to that high road often by making campaign-like speeches to push for major changes such as Obamacare, rather than taking the GOP headon over issues.

Fresh off his winning a second term, and the tax increase battle, now it's quite the opposite.

On the surface, it looks like it's no more Mr. Nice Guy, and that his second term is all going to be just about continuing to pummel the GOP conservatives back to their stone age.

As an academic described Obama's newly found gunfight mentality in a recent article in The Hill, the president has discovered his "sea legs" and is ready to do battle. He's really just maturing on the job, and looking to expand his vision for America's future with great force, showing no mercy.

The next contentious battle appears to be over the confirmation of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.

Here again, on the surface, it looks like the president is spoiling for more political bloodletting, knowing that Hagel's nomination will not be smooth sailing in the Senate.

Hagel is facing significant opposition from both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate because of his stands against his fellow Republicans while in Congress and in earnestly opposing the Iraq War early on and making controversial statements against the influence of a "Jewish lobby" in regard to American-Israeli relations. In addition, he has incurred the wrath of GLBT activists for past anti-gay statements, which he has since recently retracted.

But Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who worked closely with Obama in the Senate, shares the president's vision of a different America in the world. He would be an important point man in steering Obama's evolution of the conduct of America's world affairs away from a Reagan neoconservatism and massive defense spending that has characterized our relations with the world since the 1980s, and prompted two costly interventionist wars in Asia.

Instead, as Secretary of Defense, Hagel would be key in continuing to evolve an internationalist foreign policy that favors the integration of international law into the conduct of our affairs and better relations through negotiation with America's adversaries. That would include embracing better relations with the Arab world and distancing America from close relations with Israel, pulling out of Afghanistan early and definitely, and continuing negotiations with renegade states like Iran and North Korea.

So, while some view the Hagel nomination as wastefully spending vital political capital gained from the initial round of fiscal battles, the showdown is an integral part of an overall strategy in firmly setting this country on a new, leftist course during his next four years in office.

And with the GOP stuck with basically the same old, ineffective ideologues in the House of Representatives that render productive negotiation a moot point, and the same old empty leadership of both the GOP and Democrats in a do-nothing Congress, the president will continue to score important victories, including the battered Hagel being confirmed.

As he takes his second oath of office, a more experienced Obama will be finally stepping up to enlarge the already expansive powers of the American presidency — and powerfully sling his agenda to shape a new 21st century American frontier.

Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurlys Kommentary and also writes for Florida Voices and the Huffington Post. He can be emailed at Kurly@stevenkurlander.com.