The Meaning Of Change

The pundits are jumping to the same old formulae, like they did all of last year. Here's what Obama understands and why it matters:

Now, I just want to say this -- I value the constructive criticism and the healthy debate that's taking place around this package, because that's the essence, the foundation of American democracy. That's how the founders set it up. They set it up to make big change hard. It wasn't supposed to be easy. That's part of the reason why we've got such a stable government, is because no one party, no one individual can simply dictate the terms of the debate. I don't think any of us have cornered the market on wisdom, or that do I believe that good ideas are the province of any party.

This is a conservatism of doubt. In a liberal Democrat. And here's the kicker:

But we're going to have to do it by not thinking about ourselves, not thinking about how does this position me, how am I looking. We're going to have to just think about how are we delivering for them.

And we wonder why Washington is having a hard time grappling with that.