Many people who attached their vote to a ship called "Hope" in the last presidential election are wondering what happened to candidate Obama -- the man so in touch with his fellow Americans. Was it once again all just an act -- a masterful vote-gaining strategy?
That would be a harsh characterization, but some days it's hard not to wonder how close it is to the truth. Aside from the disappointments of promised change taking far longer than expected and of people who brought the country to the brink of economic ruin being invited into the administration to help run things, President Obama continually loses public support by distancing himself in stance, words and body language from many of the very people who have looked to him for new leadership.
What is the problem here?
Is it Obama's view of leadership? Does he believe in running for president as a man of the people but leading by keeping citizens and the media at a distance? Is he attempting to portray himself as a throwback to the bygone era of the "great man" leader, as if the complex nature of today's problems could actually be addressed alone? Does he think people expect him to have all the answers and to be responsible for everyone's actions?
Is it a question of trust? Is he unwilling to demonstrate -- rather than merely insist over and over -- that he is not sitting on his hands but that he has gathered the best experts in an endeavor to spare the Gulf of Mexico from continued devastation? Does he distrust those people? Is he so wary of a Brownie event on his watch that he distances himself from people who might not be as adept as they appear? Or is the distance intended to convey control from above?
Which brings us to this: Is it elitism? Could it be that President Obama's Ivy League training and penchant for selecting people with that very same pedigree for high positions perpetuate a consensual sense of superiority? Do they think there is no problem they can't master on their own? "My people," "my administration" -- possessive pronouns abound to suggest this may be the case. It reflects an us-vs.-them mentality, when it doesn't simply sound like a misguided sense of power.
Has he even considered taking a page from President Clinton's "man of the people" approach or Admiral Thad Allen's "tell-it- as-I-see-it" style of communication? Does he think that as president he really is no longer one of us and that he will only lose credibility by appearing to be so? Standing alone at the podium appearing to have the answers, telling us he's working hard and sounding perturbed with doubters undermines his credibility by not being the president he promised.
No matter how often President Obama asserts his intension to make sure British Petroleum pays every last fisherman and ameliorates all environmental and economic damage, no matter his assurances that the buck stops with him (remember "The Decider?"), President Obama is conveying an outmoded view of leadership that rejects broad teamwork in favor of intellectual or experiential superiority. Being at the podium alone just exacerbates the disconnect problem.
This isn't the time for the Lone Ranger leader. Those advising the president to get out in front of the problem have neglected to notice that his trying to appear to do so is actually part of the problem. The Kennedy administration response to the Cuban missile crisis was a team effort -- a highly visible one. So, too, was the Tylenol tampering case -- still a classic in business schools.
Our culture encourages individualism and standing above the crowd. But we also respect people who put aside notions of glory, self-interest and even self-sacrifice to reach a team goal. President Obama should not try to be an oil disaster expert, but rather clearly demonstrate that he knows where to find them. That's what effective leaders do. They aren't too busy or distracted to bother with the press or people in pain because they know their team is hard at work.
Effective leaders find experts who complement their strengths - men and women with exceptional track records, no matter their pedigree, and they draw upon that expertise until workable solutions are found.
Leadership isn't a characteristic you have or you don't. It isn't something you memorize and apply. You don't win the vote and become a leader. It's a range of behaviors more or less suited to the problem at hand. And the problem at hand in the Gulf doesn't call for a leader who stands alone at a podium day after day telling us with considerable exasperation that he has things under control. He doesn't. No one could. If President Obama doesn't learn this now, he won't be "in charge" for long.
Dr. Reardon also blogs at bardscove.
Just like HCR all summer long the dems and the people who wanted this passed sat around and did nothing and let the teabaggers and lying repubs frame the arguement, and the president was left to sell the HCR alone, and then got flack for it when there was no public option.
Dems allowed themselves to be bullied and ridiculed at their own town halls and they looked weak while the real weaklings, the repubs looked strong.
When you elected this president, your responsiblity shouldn't have ended there.
If you want these policies, you have to be willing to fight for them, and organize and get involved instead of letting a bunch of costume wearing idiots get the jump on things. Come on people, we're smarter than they are. We have to make things happen and support the president to get the change we sought when we elected him and for those that didn't vote for him, it's your country to and you should want our president to succeed, because if he doesn' t succeed, we don't succeed as a country.
1. Obama is always seen in a suit and tie while at work. What is this "elitist" porsona he insist upon? Is he deliberately trying to dismiss the millions who go to work in blue-collar dress, in "business casual" attire, or the many thousands of extremely hard working gentelmen's clubs dancers who wear thongs and chamisoles? Does her realize that by wearing a suit and tie is is only inflating the pro-business/Wall St pirate/wealthy few archetype so many have come to loathe?
2. Obama is a highly skilled orator, but this flies directly into the face of so many other Americans' own education level and basic intelligence and simply reinforces the "elitist" stereotype" he is cultivating as his image. Why the formality, Mr President? Why the stubborn insistence on correct syntax and grammar? My suggestion would be to bring it down to "our" level, as it were... spend some time studying Palin's great speeches, and know when to end sentences with "also" and when to use rambling incoherent logic and abyssmal grammar to underline the point that you, too, are a regular Joe.
3. The President promised "change", yet the White House is still located in Washington. Discuss.
Sheesh.
And never forget how many who complain are still thinking about him as the N-President. He has to LOOK the part to help them to remember what his responsibility is.
Really with everything that is going on this country, your only concern is what he is wearing.
The problem is not what he is wearing. He just like any man who is a professional wears a suit to work. He is president of the USA not some nerdy technocrat that plays with computers all day.
When he wore jeans in the oval office, the repubs accused him of degrading the office by being too casual, and now they think he dressed too fancy. Some people will find fault in everything that he does.
If I misunderstood your post, please forgive me.
It is my fault that I took your remarks out of contex and didn't read them thoroughly. I behaved in the same way that a lot of people do, and I overreacted, and didn't pay attention, so if your post was meant to be sarcastic and I misconstrued them, please forgive me.
No. 5: Getting off to a slower start than most would want, but he has at least addressed it, with the new ways Student Loans are now handled - where the student can get an education without having to use a Loan Shark or middle man, and they have laid out several positions they would like to pursue, BUT he has only been in office for 1.5 years
This list doesn't include everything Obama has had to deal with, but in just 1.5 years he has touched on every priority he laid out in 2008, while running for President, and is making significant progress in every area. When Republicans win office, they never keep their promises, except to their corporate masters - never do they work on the issues they promise and the middle class, public school, etc are depleted to make sure the wealthy gets tax cuts
I am not sure who said it, but it said "The Public School System is the bridge between the poor and the wealthy" or something similar - a fundamental belief that gave rise to this very nation - that ALL men are created equal (maybe one day we will fully realize this promise) - not, if your poor or sick then something is wrong with you, but until we start investing into schools and the working poor, we will never be great again - it was the rise of the Middle Class that made the "Greatest Generation"
Keep up the fight.
4) CHECK - the very day the Teabaggers made their first public rally, 95% of Americans got a Tax Break - yes, very true. it might have been minute, and most people probably didn't notice the bump of $15-$30 in their paycheck, but it was there - again with no Republican help, and the Republicans want to continue with the Tax Cuts for the Top 5% of Wage Earners in America, yet they want to continue wars and have no proposals on the table to show how these things will be paid for, except for benefit reduction of the majority of Americans, whereas Democratic want to embolden the working man to recreate the middle class, and put the burden of American expenses back on to to the wealthy instead of the peasants
What he's done since being elected:
1) CHECK - even though growth is slow, he did stabilize it, with the help of Congress, and no thanks to Republicans
2) Currently under progress - in his very first budget, he included a major investment into green technology, and has pivoted with the Oil Spill in mind to refocus our energy to a whole new Energy Policy, finally leaving the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd chanting to mostly hollow ears
3) CHECK - Not exactly what Progressives wanted, but the framework is in place to force changes that will be acceptable and beneficial to the majority of Americans - and again, with NO REPUBLICAN help - and Harry Reid promised a vote on the Public Option, and I hope people make him keep his promise
Obama's Top 5 Priorities when running for President:
1) Stabilize the financial system. "We don't know yet what's going to happen in January," he said. "None of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system and financial system. So that's priority No. 1: making sure the plumbing works."
No. 2 Energy independence: "We have to seize this moment, because it's not just an energy independence issue; it's also a national security issue, and it's a jobs issue. We can create 5 million new green energy jobs." Video Watch: Fixing the economy top priority, Obama says »
Priority No. 3: Health care reform.
Priority No. 4: "Making sure we have tax cuts for the middle class as part of a broader tax reform effort."
Priority No. 5: Reforming the education system."Making sure we have tax cuts for the middle class as part of a broader tax reform effort."
I need somebody to tell me, convince me or school me to WHO, that's right WHO would be doing a better job as President with all the circumstances and events, WHO would have us better off than we are right now? I am open to consider any real candidate.....
By the way, we'd have a PO now if our Democratic majority was unified. Money and unification don't work well together. We'd kept our majority if we'd taken the voters in Mass more seriously. we'd have better financial reform if our majority was unified, again money and unification.... The President might have a more complete Cabinet thereby having a more reflective of his administration staffers if we used our majority to fashion confirmations to bypass Republican ploys and tricks.
We have placed the President in a no win situation to make us feel better or worse for our situation. Remember this, the President didn't and can't outsource jobs.....