Deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page Daniel Henninger has fired a 16 inch shell across the bow of the Obama administration.
In this editorial, Henninger uses the "R" word - perhaps a word not seen in a major print publication in a quarter century:
When Barack Obama delivered his 44-minute acceptance speech in August among the majestic columns of Denver, it was apparent his would be an expansive presidency. Some wondered whether his solutions for a very long list of problems was too ambitious. On Tuesday, before Congress, he made clear across 52 minutes that the economic downturn would not deflect him from his Denver vision.
Instead, the economic crisis, as it did for Franklin D. Roosevelt, will serve as a stepping stone to a radical shift in the relationship between the people and their government. It will bind Americans to their government in ways not experienced since the New Deal. This tectonic shift, if successful, will be equal to the forces of public authority set in motion by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. The Obama presidency is going to be a radical presidency.
Barack Obama is proposing that the U.S. alter the relationship between the national government and private sector that was put in place by Ronald Reagan and largely continued by the presidencies of Bill Clinton and the Bushes. Then, the private sector led the economy. Now Washington will chart its course.
Mr. Obama was clear about his intention. "Our economy did not fall into this decline overnight," he said. Instead, an "era" has "failed" to think about the nation's long-term future. With the urgency of a prophet, he says the "day of reckoning has arrived." The president said his purpose is not to "only revive this economy."
Henninger points out that Obama is trying to solve the economic crisis while at the same time, radicalizing the relationship between government and the private sector. The two may seem connected more closely than they actually are. By radically increasing government intervention into the economy, the changes that result are cultural and social changes, not just economic. They go to the very foundation of who we are as a people and seek to permanently alter the face of America.
Obama did not run promising to do anything remotely like this. He knew full well that if he did, he would not have won and he would have been rejected as just another liberal seeking to install socialism. In short, Obama obtained the presidency under the false flag of moderation and bi-partisanship - two things he has totally and utterly failed to accomplish so far as president.
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