What Went Wrong With Barack Obama?
Recommend on Google+
Barack Obama was always going to find it well night impossible to live up to the expectations that greeted his election in some quarters. Even so, his presidency has been looking more than a little troubled. His personal charisma still goes far (his State of the Union address was masterly, and his televised Question and Answer with Republican senators showed an authority that had them regretting the presence of cameras), which is what perhaps makes the limitations of his governing even more stark. One excellent survey of the ‘Obama problem’ is provided by Edward Luce in the Financial Times. Luce focuses on the four key insiders who were so crucial to Obama’s election in the first place - Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Communications Chief Robert Gibbs and Senior Advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett - and criticises the exclusive nature of their relationship with the president. He is still campaigning rather than governing, suggests Luce, and in the process is excluding a host of able and supportive figures.
Luce’s article is not only a fine and perceptive commentary on the current state of the Obama presidency, but it also helps to place Obama’s approach in a historical context. Luce provides a short, boxed assessment of Ronald Reagan, and seeks to show why Reagan - also a renowned “Great Communicator” - succeeded in his governing role more successfully than the equally communication savvy Obama. The focus on ‘insiders’ is also key to understanding both Obama and the presidency. Luce references Clinton’s insiders in the article, but he could equally have compared Obama’s Chicago Group to the Georgians who surrounded Jimmy Carter when he became president, contributing to that decent man’s defeat at the polls at the end of his first term.
Clinton broadened the base of his White House operation after his own mid-term defeats, bringing in David Gergen. Gergen, however, does not necessarily think that Obama should conduct a similar change - the advisers he’s got are both talented and trusted, Gergen told CNN, and in any case Obama has no desire for that sort of change.
blog comments powered by Disqus
More useful Obama article and video links [18 Jan 2010]
Book for the beach [23 Jun 2009]
President Obama on Top Form as the Stand-up Comedian-in-Chief [11 May 2009]
Colin Powell endoses Barack Obama [19 Oct 2008]
Panorama: US elections [12 Oct 2008]
Obama loses over $3 [5 Mar 2008]
Texas showdown [5 Mar 2008]
Hillary’s Alamo [3 Mar 2008]
POLITICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Join over 1,600 Politics Teachers who receive the regular tutor2u Politics Teacher Resource Newsletter by email.
