January 15, 2013 1:41PM 

# Obama’s Andrew Shepherd Moment? 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

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*Washington Post* columnist [Richard Cohen](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-the-debacle-of-gun-control/2013/01/14/313e4c84-5e78-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html) today laments what he calls the “cratering of liberalism.” Cohen remembers that the “liberal agenda once included confiscating handguns and abolishing the right to own one.” Yes, agreed, we should [remember that](https://www.cato.org/blog/what-militia-theory). Liberals would really like Obama to channel Michael Douglas, who played a liberal commander-in-chief in the Rob Reiner/​Aaron Sorkin film, *[The American President](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112346/)* (excerpt below). Should we do this in the inaugural address or the state of the union? That’s probably the debate among Obama’s speechwriters.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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