Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained [...] infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
- George Santayana, 1905
From Alan Jenkins today:
Most Americans carry around at least two stories of government in their heads. One is the story of government as problem solver, as fair referee, and as investor in shared prosperity. It is the government of first responders, of Iwo Jima, of gifted teachers, Head Start and Social Security. The other story is of government as bloated bureaucracy, as tax-and-spender, as bungler, and as rights violator. It is the government of the DMV, of Vietnam, of lazy teachers, of FEMA and Hurricane Katrina. More important than ideology for these Americans is how facts on the ground seem to reaffirm one story or the other.
[...]
The public’s willingness to wait for progress [...] will depend in large part on their belief in the competence of this administration to make the trains run on time. Mistakes will no doubt occur. But the political success of this president may be determined in the coming months by whether his government is characterized by the popular and high-profile “cash for clunkers” program, or is just seen as a clunker.
The lessons of history are clear: it is clear what type of government programs have long-lasting positive effects on American society and help build the legacy of a great Administration (Social Security/Head Start), and it is clear what types of failures tarnish even otherwise laudable presidencies (Vietnam/Hurricane Katrina).
What is unclear is what archetype of president President Obama chooses to be.
FDR good, Hoover bad.
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