It's the Values Stupid

Is there anyone out there that believed that the Miracle in Massachusetts was a epiphany for the President? In an interview with George Stephanopoulos , Obama had this to say about what the loss of the Massachusetts Senate race ultimately means to him.

Obama …That also means, by the way, that we can spread out what we do so it's not so cram packed. It doesn't mean I back off the agenda of health care, or energy, or education, or financial regulatory reform, or dealing with our deficits. But it does mean that it doesn't have to be all on top of the other piled on. And we've got a lot more time to explain to people why we're doing what we're doing. We have a lot more time to answer critics who argue that we're not doing the right thing."

This is obviously a man that can't or won't get it. He has no plans to adjust his agenda (but expect it to be repackaged). He feels that if he had just done a better job educating the masses they would certainly come to understand all the good things he wants to do to us. This is as absurd as the Democrats argument that goes, "If only we could get health care passed the people will see what a great thing it is and praise us for our benevolence." He continues;

Obama: What I haven't been able to do yet -- and this was what I was hired to do -- is to close the gap between the values of the American people and the values of Washington, and the values of Wall Street. The values of our big institutions.

These values -- the American people's values are sound. They're right. You know, people take responsibility for their lives, they work hard. They're doing right by their families. Our institutions aren't matching up to those values. And my job over the course of this year has been to see A, if we can just solve the immediate crisis. But now I've got to spend a lot more time just focused on how we get those things to align.

And, you know, If there's one thing that I regret this year, is that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us, that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values. And that I do think is a mistake of mine. I think the assumption was, if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on the, you know this provision, or that law, or are we making a good, rational decision here -

Stephanopoulos: That people would get it.

Obama: That people will get it...

Yes, Americans are hard working and responsible but those things the president identified are traits that are the result of American core values not core values themselves. Values such as,

Justice; my life and the fruits of my labor will be protected not just from my neighbor but from the institutions we form.
Order; that the rule of law applies equally to everyone including those that run the those institutions.
Freedom; the ability to follow one’s own path without interference from those same institutions.

These three values better known as Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are non- negotiable to the American people and as long as these values are in equilibrium the American people are a pretty placid bunch who pays little attention to the machinations of our institutions. When these tenets become out of balance, or are seemingly under attack, the American people rally around them just as tenaciously as they rally around a President when the nation is under attack from outside forces. Protesters over the past year were not chanting "I'm a hard worker and dont like your health care bill" they were screaming "get your nose out of my personal affairs and your hand out of my pocket!"

The Presidents problem is not how he can educate the people about their values but instead how he can formulate reforms and allign our institutions to those set values. That is a tall order considering that his own values are diametrically opposed to the majority of Americans and after reading this interview I just don’t think that kind of change is in his nature.

Cf; The American Cause. by Russel Kirk

For a further examination of this interview see Doctor Zero "The Context Of Middle-Class Frustration"