Don't be deceived. President-elect Obama is a radical.
Through his appointments he is widely perceived by the mainstream media to be planning to govern from the "center-right" of the Democratic Party. He has frustrated many Progressive, including some here in Daily Kos and given comfort to conservatives like David Brooks that he is really more like them and not one of us.
President-elect Obama aims a for radical transformation of the structure and ideology similar to FDR and Reagan. He is radical not in the sense of extreme left wing but in his aim to implement radical change: major initiatives such as universal health care, energy independence, a more progressive distribution of income, and a new style of effective government for all.
If Obama achieves his objective a radical transformation will ensue.
Obama was criticized by Hillary Clinton during the primaries for his praise of Reagan and his critique of Bill Clinton as not being a transformational President.
Let's face it, Bill Clinton wasn't transformational, but a more moderate version of Ronald Reagan (for example, ending "welfare as we know it."
The Clinton Health Care debacle and the election of a Republican Congress pushed Clinton to the right.
While we may not like it, Obama recognizes that the majority of American self-identify as moderates, and there are still more conservatives than liberals. True the meaning of moderate has shifted significantly during the last four years or so, but if Obama is going to be a successful transformational leader he is more likely to achieve it if he is perceived to be a moderate, rather than a progressive.
More importantly, Obama aims to continue to expand his base by reaching out to the center-right and by building coalitional bridges with the likes of Lieberman and Bob Gates and their supporters.
So far he has succeeded doing so. Andrew Sullivan, a self-desribed conservative, was an ardent public supporter during the campaign.
Ultimately a radical transformation requires attitude change. But as social psychologists tell it is easier to change behavior rather than attitudes. Once behavior is changed, then attitudes change to be consistent with that behavior.
Universal health care will be the signature policy change that will mark whether Obama is efffective or not as a transformation leader. To achieve this change he requires a broad-base of support from the American people, not only liberals or progressives, but the vast majority of moderates and some conservatives.
Wall Street is too powerful to ignore. Appeasing Wall Street through the appointments of Summers and Geithner, is an important step in the coalition building. So is developing his technocratic credentials through appointments like Christina Romer and Peter Orszag. Hillary Clinton and Bob Gates are two other appointments that will broaden his coalitional support. At the same time progressives will be part of the administration as signaled by the selection of Melody Barnes to the Domestic Policy Council, an appointment that does not fit the "center-right" narrative.
Obama truly believe is post-partisanship and he aims to expand the coalition that elected him with 53% of the vote. His current support is in the mid-60s according to Gallup.
The broad coalition of support, coupled with both the technical and political skills of his administration augur success not in espousing progressive principles but in a radical transformation of economic and governmental policy in the U.S.
That would be radical.