Keller: No Sign Of Retreat In Trump's Inaugural Address
BOSTON (CBS) - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" goes the proverbial wisdom. And that seems to have been the animating philosophy behind President Trump's inaugural address.
There was little difference – in tone or content – between this speech and his candidacy announcement in June 2015, the first time I saw him live in Derry, NH later that summer, or his acceptance speech at the GOP convention last July.
America is a hellhole thanks to the greed and indifference of DC elites and foreign bloodsuckers, and "I alone can fix it." Remember?
Speaking of broke, that's how pundits who doubted the political effectiveness of this approach went throughout Trump's rise to power.
And there was no sign of retreat, modification, or – can we please bury this word after today – pivot from the new president. The speech was a greatest hits album (Millennials, ask your folks what that is) of his campaign themes – "America first," DC versus "the people," "we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry," we will "Make America Great Again."
WATCH: President Trump's Full Speech
(I'll never forget the sight of a woman waiting in line for a late-2015 Trump rally in Iowa telling a reporter why she loved Trump: "He tells you right upfront what he believes. It's right there on his hat.")
But the question now is can the rhetoric and tactics that worked so well in the campaign context continue to work now that his power is shared, checked and balanced?
If that question sounds familiar, it was the same one asked of Barack Obama back in 2009. The answer is in.
Yes, you can ram through Obamacare on a straight party-line vote (just as Trump apparently plans to do with repeal). But by doing so you strip away any political cushion when things go wrong.
Yes, you can scrap NAFTA. But watch out for the negative economic fallout, and for what Mexico and Canada might want out of any new deal.
Yes, you can go on TV or go out on the road and appeal to your base for support when the going gets tough. But it's much harder to mobilize people outside of an election cycle, with all its bells, whistles and villains.
So if I'm right, the new president will quickly confront a new political reality – the reality of governing, and the profound difference between that and campaigning. We'll see how well he manages to – OK, one last time – pivot.