History will be kinder to the first two years of Barack Obama’s administration than the electorate next Tuesday. (That’s because history mostly gets written by gutless liberals, you can hear conservatives snort.) But history loves lists and the record of the 44th president and the universally despised 111th Congress boasts an array of legislative accomplishments unrivalled since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society years of the 1960s and the momentous opening charge of the New Deal in 1933. Facing his own midterm debacle in 1994, Bill Clinton, (now by a long way, the most popular politician in America), had nothing remotely comparable to run on. Between Mr Obama’s twin peaks of regulatory reform of the financial industry and healthcare, are unsung acts of excellence that speak to the gross inequities of American society: the delivery of medical insurance to 11m children hitherto deprived of it; legislation enabling women to bring legal action against employers who fail to offer equal pay for equal work; prohibitions against credit card companies jacking up interest rates without warning to extortionate levels.
歷史對巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)執政頭兩年的評價，肯定要比2010年11月2日的選民仁慈得多。（你可以聽到保守派人士不屑一顧地說，這是因爲歷史多半是由沒有出息的自由派人士書寫的。）但歷史喜愛清單，讓第44任總統和受到普遍鄙視的第111屆國會引以自豪的，是一連串立法成就，自林登•詹森總統(Lyndon Johnson)上世紀60年代提出「大社會」(Great Society)計劃、以及1933年羅斯福提出影響深遠的新政(New Deal)以來，沒有其他總統或國會能夠與之相比。1994年，面對期中選舉潰敗的比爾•柯林頓(Bill Clinton)，拿不出任何與之相比的政績——可如今柯林頓成了美國遙遙領先的民望最高的政客。介乎歐巴馬金融業監管改革和醫改這兩個事業高峯之間的，是一系列不爲人所知的爲民謀利之舉，直指美國社會的嚴重不平等：爲1100萬先前沒有醫保的兒童提供醫保；立法讓女效能夠對未做到同工同酬的僱主採取法律行動；禁止信用卡公司在未發出警告的情況下，就將利率提升至敲詐水準。