Peter Suderman on Obamanomics 2.0
"America's possibilities are limitless," President Barack Obama told the country during his second inaugural address. And so, one got the sense, was his agenda. In February, during his State of the Union address, Obama began to flesh out the details: tax reform, pruned-back entitlement payouts, an increase in the minimum wage, tens of billions in new infrastructure spending, perhaps even a stab at a long-elusive "grand bargain" to steady federal finances into the future.
So who are the wonks running economic policy in the president's second term? At first glance, they're a bunch of ex-Clintonites steeped in Third Way centrism and deficit hawkery. But a closer look reveals something else, reports Peter Suderman. The keepers of Obamanomics 2.0 are above all political appointees designed to defend a status quo that has very little to do with the comparative golden years of Bill Clinton.