NYT columnist says liberals need to get 'upset' over the broken promises of the Obama, Biden administrations
New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein said Wednesday liberals need to get upset over the failed promises of the Biden and Obama presidencies.
Klein joined California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's podcast where he talked about his new book with The Atlantic's Derek Thompson, "Abundance," which examines why liberal government isn't delivering and finds it's often their own well-intentioned policies and regulations getting in the way. He said the Obama and Biden administrations suffered from this problem.
"So much of the political theory of the Biden administration was that if you can show liberal democracy can deliver, you will pull people out of wanting these strongmen who say they're going to burn the whole thing down and give you something out of the ashes," Klein said.
He gave the example of the Biden administration celebrating the $42 billion for rural broadband passed in the 2021 infrastructure bill. But with all the multi-stage processes and red-tape, "By the end of the administration, of the 56 states and jurisdictions that were trying to apply for the money, three had made it through."
"If the things don't move fast enough, if they don't get to the people fast enough, it's much harder for liberal democracy to make the case that it delivers," he said.
Klein then recalled a conversation he had with former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau about California’s high-speed rail effort, which has been in the works for almost two decades with little progress.
"I was saying that, the stimulus bill under Obama, that had three big headline projects for reinvestment," he said. "It had high-speed rail, it had smart grid, and it had a nationwide system of interoperable health records."
"I remember those days," Newsom responded.
"Yeah. 0-for-3," Klein said. "At some point, we gotta be upset about this, you know?"
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"There is the fundamental disconnect, and you're absolutely right, as it relates to these large-scale audacious projects," Newsom agreed.
"But at least there’s a vision," he argued. "At least Obama had a vision. He wanted to be big in big things, he wanted to do big things, and at least progressive states still have a vision."
"I’m all for vision," Klein replied. "My upset - the point of this book, is that I want the things to happen."
"I don't want to give anybody credit for a vision that didn't happen," Klein added. "[The failure of] high-speed rail has undermined the public's faith in what can get done. It undermines the next high-speed rail."