But his speech to the Senate last week on bipartisanship was one for the ages and will inspire others to at least consider principled actions in the tough debates ahead.
Guantanamo was not a considered and principled decision.
Consider this bit of close textual analysis: Obama's second book, "The Audacity of Hope," written in anticipation of his presidential run, combined a desire to unify and heal with a willingness to take principled risks as a progressive.
What Republicans considered a principled stand for fiscal restraint played as an act of petulance (Gingrich had publicly complained about having been forced to sit at the rear of the plane on a Presidential trip); Clinton's approval ratings rose as Gingrich's plummeted.
Gwen Stanley, 24, a white waitress living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said she considered Mr. Obama more principled.
On Monday evening, his spokesman, Hank Sheinkopf, said: "Jeffrey Wiesenfeld voted to take a principled position on what he considered to be unfair attacks on the State of Israel.
"For years, I've considered myself a principled pluralist, which is what enabled me to make the transition from a primarily Orthodox orientation to the Masorti community.
However, considered skepticism and principled criticism need not foreclose historically-informed analysis and prudent policy planning, especially when ISIS is fiddling and diddling, daddling and doodling, in preparation for the game-changer to which they declare to aspire--a new Islamic caliphate in Baghdad.
Gee, some people in America consider Cheney a bright, principled, conservative public servant and loving husband and father. GoldenGIobes. GoldenGIobes
Hempstone considered him "a man too principled (or short-sighted) to compromise with what he regards as wrong", while Welensky compared dealing with him to "trying to nail jelly to a wall".
