NP: Marillion, "He Knows You Know"

Amidst all the yelling from the far left on how President Obama is watering down reform, Kevin Drum makes a pretty important point:

There's only so much you can do. So now that we have a chance to do something, our only option, really, is to bribe all the special interests and try to get something passed that does about a tenth of what it should. And even at that, it'll pass — if it passes — by the slimmest of margins.

And then we go back and keep pushing. And get another tenth. And another. Because every tenth that works well makes it easier to pass the next tenth. And every tenth helps restore public faith in the ability of government to work. That won't happen overnight, but at least Obama's first tenth will get it started.

I wouldn't go so far to say that I'm a fan of incremental change, but I tend to have a violent reaction to people who want everything now, particularly from the progressives who are unhappy Obama hasn't fixed all the country's ails before his first year is done, so I feel like this is a pretty realistic assessment. Just because this president hasn't fought battles on every front doesn't necessarily mean he's ignoring those fronts -- one of the things I keep bringing up as a trait I admire in Obama is that he seems to take the notion that "slow and steady wins the race" to heart.

Now, just like everyone else, I may be projecting my values onto the man and his administration, but that doesn't mean I can't hope I'm right.