IF I WERE OBAMA...

(I'm glad I'm not)... but if I were I'd be thinking pretty hard about two options that lie before me. The first, and the most immediately attractive, is to throw caution to the winds and make the choice to settle for a one-term presidency, if things turned out that way. Essentially, I'd say: screw it, I have nothing left to lose; so power up, and go full blast at my political opponents and their tired, long-since disproven theories and policies. I'd go on the attack on every issue from the economy to health care, from gay rights to abortion. I'd unequivocally demand an end to the unaffordable Bush tax cuts, and a more equitable distribution of the tax burden.

Even at the risk--almost the certainty--of having it rejected by the opposition, I'd propose a strong new New Deal to get people back to work, including a robust stimulus plan to bring federal money to the rescue of the national infrastructure and the failing states. I'd propose spending real money on real education reform, rebuilding crumbling schools and restructuring curricula, not simply nibbling at the edges of the problem with student testing and teacher evaluation. I'd proudly tout my health care victory, along with the improved coverage and cost savings it promises. I'd demand substantial seed money to promote American innovation for a green and energy-independent future. And more...

Let the Republicans rebuff me at their own risk. They have already made ample demonstration of their unwillingness to strike the smallest compromise on any front, and of the implacable hatred they continue to direct at me. As FDR magnificently said, "I welcome their hatred." Their disrespect dishonors them, not me.

In making this choice, I could feel good about myself for having at least pursued that change for which I was elected. I'd turn the last year of my one term into a gutsy, noble run for the gold.

True, taking this course I would stand to win back perhaps even a good number of those who expected more of me than I've been able to show. But this would be at the risk of handing my opponents the "socialist" card to play against me--traditionally the most powerful of all jokers in the American political deck. The American electorate is easily swayed by their distrust of government power, their emotional fear of deficits, and their antipathy to anything that can be construed or misrepresented as a tax increase. Especially at this moment in history. Like it or not, and no matter how irrational, that's a powerful, perhaps overwhelming force to deal with. No amount of sound argument and reason can contend with it; anger and public hectoring fare no better. Not to recognize this is to be intentionally blind to the realities. It's a question of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

So then I have to wonder if that first best choice would not serve my ego better than my country. It's clearly too late to turn the economy around in any significant way, and that albatross is going to be strung around my neck no matter what I do. If I go for broke and lose next year's election, the sacrifice of my presidency would have far greater and more lasting significance than the jolt to my own ego. It would mean abandoning the country to a far right wing ideology that has been gathering steam for at least the past four decades--a country that, as a result, is already at an impasse, if not in serious decline. To simply stand back and allow us to go further down that road would amount to a betrayal of everything I value. A far-right Republican Congress and a far-right Republican President? Unthinkable. I jumped aboard this runaway express at a time when it had been gathering speed for a full decade, with two wars unpaid for and a massive tax cut leaving the economy in tatters. Even if I'm unable to turn it around, I must at least continue to do what I can to apply the brakes and slow its forward momentum, and perhaps prevent the train wreck. That feels to me like a disappointingly minimal expectation in the light of what I promised myself and the country, but it may just be my bottom-line obligation...

This is not a palatable discussion. I'd personally love to see Barack Obama shouting and waving the revolutionary banner on the barricades. If I were standing in his shoes, my ego would be just bursting to show 'em all, Republicans and liberal critics alike. But my head would be weighing the agonizing cost of having staked everything against the dark side and lost--not for my own sake, but the country's. If he goes down, the country sinks still further with him into the morass.