"William James and President Obama have the same realistic view of belief and
how it works. They both believe that we can and should develop shared beliefs
and use them in our fight to make our social world better."
"In 2006, Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois wrote in his memoir “The
Audacity of Hope”, that the Constitution, rather than being a dead document
based on settled principles, is “designed to force us into a conversation” and
offers “a way by which we argue about our future.” And he criticized his own
Democratic party for failing to bring new ideas to this argument, having become
“the party of reaction”: “In reaction to a war that is ill-conceived, we appear
suspicious of all military action. In reaction to those who proclaim the market
can cure all ills, we resist efforts to use market principles to tackle
pressing problems. In reaction to religious overreach, we equate tolerance with
secularism and forfeit the moral language that would help infuse our policies
with a larger meaning.” Obama challenged both parties to leave behind their
ideological boilerplate and develop something new, something that all Americans
can come to believe in."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/reconsidering-obama-the-pragmatist/
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