Obama: A Different Kind of Change

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When Barack Obama swept into the presidential office, it was because the public believed in his bold idea of Big Change. A year later, he's having a harder time garnering support for his small change results.
 
The schism between that early promise and current reality has become glaringly evident in the President's fight against climate change and for health care reform. In Copenhagen last week, Obama called for a binding international treaty to sharply curb global emissions, but instead helped barter a non-binding agreement with targets well below what's necessary. Back home, his promise for comprehensive health care reform has turned into a drawn-out Congressional brawl over an increasingly watered-down bill.
 
Turn on cable TV or stand around a water-cooler, and you're bound to hear disappointment from those who wanted change. Obama jettisoned the public option! He blew a rare opportunity to prevent calamitous climate change! He's all talk--where are the results?!
 
But in spite of the angry hysteria and actual flaws, it's important to remember that both deals represent progress. Two of the countries that agreed to Obama's Copenhagen Accord were China and India, both incredibly valuable allies to the US in the fight against global warming. And the agreement calls for a two-degree cap on global temperature increases, a step in the right direction and more than what's been agreed upon before.
 
Meanwhile, both the Senate and House versions of the health care bill include auspicious provisions. If an Act passes, insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions, skyrocketing premiums will be capped, and the poor and uninsured will have many more opportunities to protect against catastrophe. That's not just better than nothing; it's a lot better than nothing.
 
Is either plan perfect? Hardly. But they will have an impact in the immediate future--and perhaps more importantly, they set the framework for more strides down the road. Progress has never existed in a vacuum, and people have always been more resistant to change than they'd like to believe. Moderate steps have historically set the path toward major advancements, from women's suffrage to civil rights to gay marriage (still on its incremental march towards fruition).
 
It's possible Obama will leave office without achieving the Big Change he promised. But it's also possible he'll achieve it the only way feasible in the face of intense partisanship, public debate, and plain human nature: slowly. An era of small change is upon us. Now we just need to believe in it.
 
(Image by Elizabeth Cromwell; C.C. 3.0)
 
If you like this article about the progress Obama has made on the climate change and health care reform fronts, check out this article on the connection between trade with China and the fight to lower global emissions.