One of our best progressive thinkers explains how Obama must be a transformative president—or a failed one.

Barack Obama approaches the presidency at a critical moment in American history, facing simultaneous crises of war, the environment, health care, but most especially in the economy. In Obama's Challenge, Robert Kuttner argues that the nation's first black president could join the ranks of a small handful of previous presidents who have been truly transformative, succeeding in fundamentally changing our economy, society, and democracy for the better.

But, writes Kuttner (The Squandering of America), this will require imaginative and decisive action as Obama takes office, action bolder than he promised during his campaign, and will be all the more difficult given the undertow of conventional wisdom in Washington and on Wall Street that resists fundamental change. Decades of regressive politics and political gridlock have left America in its most precarious situation since the onset of the Great Depression. The collapse of the housing bubble continues, as does the financial meltdown it triggered; a revival of 1970s style stagflation threatens; incomes continue to lag behind inflation; our household and international debts pile higher; disastrous climate change looms; energy and food prices continue their escalation; and the ranks of un- and under-insured Americans grow, the clearest, and most heartless, example of America's destructive inequalities.

Solutions to our multiple challenges do exist, but they won't be found in overly cautious or expedient quick fixes. With his exceptional skill at appealing to our better angels, Barack Obama could be the right leader at the right time to re-awaken America to the renewed promise of shared prosperity coupled with responsibility towards future generations and the international community with whom we share the Earth.


Praise for Obama's Challenge

"Obama's Challenge is the fruit of Bob Kuttner's lifetime of engagé reporting, analysis, and advocacy . . . it is riveting, brilliant, and persuasive. Kuttner, in concise chapters written with great vigor and clarity, shows what the change could look like if Obama is bold enough to go for it and the gods continue to smile on him."
—Hendrik Hertzberg, from his New Yorker blog

"As Kuttner convincingly argues, a President Barack Obama will have an historic opportunity to radically transform America's direction—but only if he rejects the tired centrist policies of the past and inspires his fellow citizens to forge new progressive paths. Kuttner systematically lays out the case for why Obama should give full voice to a robust progressive message at a time when the American people are suffering from years of conservative policy. Obama's Challenge is an enlightening road map for all Americans who hunger for a change in direction and priorities in America, and who hope Obama can be our leading agent of change."
—Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of DailyKos.com, author of Taking on the System and coauthor of Crashing the Gate

"Bob Kuttner pulls off the all-but-impossible. He hits the high notes with artful precision, lifting expectations and articulating the steps that can make Barack Obama a great president—while setting forth a strong and highly readable call for comprehensive and essential economic change."
—John Sweeney, AFL-CIO President

"Robert Kuttner has incisively captured the political moment, underscored by the deepening economic crisis. Lucidly and passionately, he lays out the hurdles facing an Obama presidency and challenges him to seize the moment and achieve greatness by redeeming the promise of America."
—Arianna Huffington, cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post

"A manifesto, forceful but fair, by a leading political economist who lays out a bold but solid program if Obama is elected. As current as the morning's newspaper, this book should be read by all activists—especially Barack Obama."
—James MacGregor Burns, author of Leadership

"[Obama's Challenge will] probably more powerfully transform your understanding of American politics, progressive economics, and the role of leadership in saving a nation than any other book currently in print."
—Thom Hartmann

Review: Obama's Challenge (Thom Hartmann, Buzzflash) The stories of the transformational presidents are startling, both in the power of personality these men brought to office and in the similarities of the techniques they used. They were all true to their principles, enlisted the aid of the American public, and were highly pragmatic. They were all committed to true change. He also explodes a number of myths about these presidents, particularly FDR, who had been elected on a platform that was principally focused on balancing the budget and cutting federal spending. Kuttner takes on the conservative frames that the government is usually incompetent, that private markets work better, that we’re out of resources, that tax cuts are the only thing government can do worth a damn, and that for Democrats to win they need to talk more like Republicans. All are demonstrably false. He lays out the characteristics both of the times and of Obama himself that make it possible he could be a truly transformational president on the order of a Lincoln or Roosevelt. ... [T]his is an important and vital book that all Americans should read, because it lays out a roadmap for progressive change that is now so necessary for our democratic republic to survive. (Read the full review.)

Review: Obama's Challenge (Rich Barlow, Boston Globe) Kuttner credits Obama with the vision and skill to transform Americans' hostility to big-spending government. Only zealots would dispute Obama's assertion that flawed government programs should be curbed. But aside from subsidies to fossilfuel industries and the Iraq war financing, Kuttner doesn't dwell on spending that he'd cut. Still, a cogently argued plan like Kuttner's is a gift to election-year discourse. Conservatives may ignore its needed debunking of some of their conventional wisdom; some liberals may applaud it while missing its failure to question their own assumptions. Of both groups, one can only hope that Dwight Eisenhower's comment, about those who wanted to roll back the New Deal, applies: "Their number is negligible, and they are stupid." ... (Read the full review.)

Review: Obama's Challenge (Huffington Post) Kuttner is willing to give Obama a break. He's willing to say that maybe Obama had to shift center slightly to ensure his nomination. Once the Democratic nominee becomes the man in the White House, however, the question is clear: will Obama, as President, rise to the challenge? Will he "rehabilitate the constructive role of government, both in the minds of the people and in what government delivers."? These are scary times, for sure. But this is an exciting moment in history. And a time when progressive change may be possible in the way government steers the economy, in the way we as a nation deliver health care, in the way we forge energy policy and reform education. Will Obama stick to his audacious visions and take us where we need to go, or close? Like Obama's own books, this book is inspiring. It lays out the way one man could really make a difference in the history of our nation, and in the lives of millions of Americans. I salute Mr. Kuttner for a job, well done! ... (Read the full review.)

JohnD	Posted on Feb 24, 2009 4:10 PM
Great Argument That said, Obama hasn't seemed willing to swing for the fences, as Kuttner urges him too. (And, to be fair, it's not clear he'd get legislation passed if he did.)
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Robert Kuttner is cofounder and coeditor of the American Prospect magazine, as well as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the think tank Demos. He was a longtime columnist for Business Week, and continues to write columns in the Boston Globe. He is the author of Obama's Challenge, The Squandering of America, Everything for Sale, and The End of Laissez-Faire, among other books.

Interview with Robert Kuttner (Democracy Now!) Q. You begin your book, Obama’s Challenge, by saying that Obama has the potential to be a transformative progressive president. ... Can you talk about how he can fulfill this potential? A. You know, Amy, a crisis is also an opportunity, and the crash on Wall Street was also the crash of right-wing ideology, the ideology that claimed that markets could do nothing bad and governments could do nothing good. We’re going to have reality making the most compelling case for activist government since the New Deal. The question is whether Obama seizes the moment. He will either be Roosevelt, or he will be Hoover. There’s no middle ground. We need the most expansive use of government. We need Obama’s ability to teach, to be wielded in service of a massive recovery program that I think has four parts. First of all, do the financial rescue right, not just to throw money at Wall Street, but to get the credit system functioning again. Second, put a floor under housing prices, so that the collapse doesn’t continue. Third, re-regulate banks. And fourth, spend a lot of public money to rebuild infrastructure, do green energy, turn bad jobs into good jobs, put money back into people’s pockets. ... (Read the full interview.)

Robert Kuttner on Obama's Challenge (Fresh Air with Terry Gross)