March 27, 2008
Barack Obama, historian and Hamiltonian
Putting the substance aside for one moment, Obama's Cooper Union speech on the economy illustrates two points about his thinking that haven't been widely remarked on:
1. When he considers issues he tends to start out by thinking historically, and by starting with the period around the framing of the Constitution. This is a very unusual impulse among American office-seekers.
2. He identifies strongly with Hamilton as against Jefferson. In particular, he uses Hamiltonian interventionism to demonstrate that laisser-faire was not among the founding doctrines of the nation. Since Jefferson remains among the household idols of the Democratic Party, that's a fairly bold thing to do.
The same themes come through in The Audacity of Hope.
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