The Republicans' response to Obama confused a lot of people. I really think there's been a measure of clarity at the end, with Trump's election, that was not present during the Obama presidency.
Jonathan ChaitIn public, Barack Obama's giving the simple version of his beliefs for the mass public. In private, he can discuss it at a really high level.
Jonathan ChaitOne of the things we've learned during the Obama era is how important norms are, because we've seen how the Republican Party behaved against Obama. So much of what they did was to smash pre-existing norms, which were nothing more than assumptions of how people would behave, which didn't have any real basis in rules or limits.
Jonathan Chait