www.washingtonexaminer.com >> Politics
Politics
Without passion, Obama agenda will falter
By Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor 3/26/09
As a man who takes two days to decide whether he’s angry, President Barack Obama seems to be struggling to summon the vigor required to implement his own audacious vision.
It’s becoming clear that while Obama may think boldly about policy, he seems timid about putting his aims in action.
Obama surprised many when, rather than the consensus-driven positions that his centrist supporters predicted, he offered an agenda that would constitute a sharp left turn.
But presidents often set out on history-making paths, then entice, cajole or even beg the country to come along.
There is always compromise, certainly, but leadership at that level means, at some point, subjecting others to one’s will. As President George W. Bush found, victory can come at an awful price. As President Bill Clinton learned, victory can sometimes be impossible.
As Obama himself said, “If this were easy, we’d be done by now.”
When it comes to pushing his own agenda, though, Obama seems unwilling to do what is hard, instead operating in what President Theodore Roosevelt called the “gray twilight.”
More comfortable playing the conciliator between opposing viewpoints — the community organizer’s job — Obama hasn’t yet embraced his new role as the man with the plan.
Obama’s decision to hold a second prime-time news conference left Washington wondering what the president had up his sleeve — a stunning announcement, an emotional appeal to Americans on pocketbook issues, a new way to explain his policies.
But after Tuesday’s flat, technocratic session, no one — probably including the network executives who control pricey prime-time programming slots — will be very excited the next time Obama invites the press corps upstairs for a little chat.
For a group that ran a creative campaign, the team at the White House hasn’t been thinking very big.
The decision to send its Obamanauts door to door last weekend to pester their neighbors to take a pledge about supporting the president’s budget and call their congressmen was something different. Creepy, but different.
That campaign re-enactment hasn’t borne any fruit so far. Hill staffers from some targeted districts say that they’ve experienced no measurable increase in phone calls about the budget. Outside of the usual cut-and-paste spam e-mails, not much has happened on the electronic front either.
But when it came to deploying the No. 1 asset — the personally popular president — the White House hasn’t even shown that level of innovation and boldness.
People are anxious, and Obama is asking them to make a dramatic, rapid change in the American way of life at a time of great uncertainty.
Does hitting the couch with Jay Leno, a few campaign-style town halls and a second news conference seem equal to the moment?
The president who cloaks himself in history and talks often about the direness of our current juncture surely understands that the sales pitch is inadequate.
The best communications tool that the president has at his disposal is the Oval Office address.
It’s understandably one commanders in chief like to save for the big ones: “My fellow Americans, tonight much of (insert city name here) lies in ruin as our Air Force began bombing targets. ...”
Obama’s predecessor had several such opportunities, and some would argue that Bush diminished the visual potency of the Oval Office address through overuse.
But for Obama, wouldn’t one convincing Oval address on the economic package be better than two rambling news conferences on the stimulus and the budget?
The stimulus was a lock in the Democrat-dominated Congress, but the budget will be hand-to-hand combat in the back rooms of the Capitol. One economic address from the Oval would have telegraphed power and seriousness, and wouldn’t have had Obama standing around for an hour chatting with the reporters from Ebony and Univision.
If he’s uncomfortable in the Oval, Obama could have used another venue but still spoken directly to taxpayers and done something truly novel — used visual aids.
Done poorly, graphics would seem unpresidential, but given the right production values and setting, Obama could do big things with the right visuals. A chart showing his deficit path or the distribution of tax payments could be just the thing to get voters on board.
Obama’s recent efforts have been dull and tended to make the president an ordinary furnishing of public life instead of something extraordinary.
For the kind of huge proposals Obama is backing, you need a president, not a potted plant.
Posts
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.