The exciting, interesting, and revealing last campaign for the second term Presidency is over and the last campaign for the lasting legacy for Obama's presidency is beginning. Definitely, he's got the wind on his back, enough to say 'I have the mandate.'
Now, He has to make clear the mandate is to set in motion the policies to bring long term prosperity to the country. Coherent and easily understandable narrative is a must for the people and making it clear to the Republicans that the majority of the people is with him during the lame duck session is the first move politically. In other words, this time, take time to explain your plan, and deal with the opposition with strength.
www.en.wikipedia.org
Lincoln and the Roosevelts were the great presidents, mainly, because they were facing the great crisis, the manifestly obvious crisis of civil war, rapacious and unbridled capitalism, and the great depression. Unfortunately, great problems give a much better odds for a person to be great. For the last 70 years, the continued ascendency in the world and relative prosperity and stability produced no truly great president, and personal/character flaws of some of them that resulted in the poor decision makings erased their accomplishments.
www.en.wikipedia.org
We are facing many issues/problems with great importance and urgency. Jobs, economy, the nature of capitalism, health care, energy, infrastructure, transportation, education, climate change, foreign policy, social issues--how to live together well, crime and punishment, and etc. These are big and important issues with long term implication, and long term commitment; to make things more interesting, those issues are interrelated and interdependent.
www.en.wikipedia.org
Barack Obama started four years ago with healthcare reform against the advice of the, then, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel who claimed that it would be too costly, politically. As we know well, it was, indeed, politically very costly, but, at the same time, the beginning of the healthcare reform has begun where no president in the last 100 years had succeeded.
Along the way, President Obama faced the great recession and, as some republicans put it, 'the stupid party.' It's been a rough ride so far, and most of his accomplishment so far, there are actually very many, were done in the first two years of his presidency when Dems controlled both Houses. With this year's consequential election, the political dynamics has changed. Obama is speaking out of his mandate.
What we are facing is slow and steady build up of our general affairs, as mentioned before, the many interrelated and dependent issues and problems. There are no quick fix of immediate crisis like civil war, or a long line of starving people in front of a soup kitchen everywhere.
The current situations call for the clear vision and unwavering, sustained effort to get to that vision. This situation presents an opportunity to be the great president in different ways from the times of Lincoln and the Roosevelts . It will be much more difficult to be recognized as one by the historians in this milieu.
www.en.wikipedia.org
The question is 'Is he going to find his way? Plato's philosopher-king comes to mind. Obama needs not only smart policies but fundamental reevaluation of how we look at the society. To be able to reach the greatness, he needs to set in motion smart long term solutions, and the sense of citizenship among humanity. He has to be more than an excellent technocrat.
The hope and wish are he is smart enough to have the vision and the strength to convince and lead the people with resolution. He owes it to himself and the people. This time he has no excuses.
뉴욕 : 
파리 : 
서울 : 
