Obama’s Leadership Style
Obama has bet that this is his destiny. He is extremely cautious from day to day, staggeringly flexible on tactics, but not at all modest when you look at the big picture. He still wants to rebuild the American economy from the ground up, re-regulate Wall Street, withdraw from Iraq, win in Afghanistan, get universal health insurance and achieve a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine in his first term. That’s all. And although you can see many small failures on the way, and agonising slowness as well, you can also see he hasn’t dropped his determination to achieve it all.
This is what we’ve learnt this year: Obama does not mind defeats if they are procedural or about others saving face. He’s happy to admit error; to give his opponents a chance to lunge at his jugular; to let opponents enjoy a day in the sun; to shave off any small stuff as long as the big stuff remains. He seems oddly impervious to personal insult: he doesn’t mind being affronted by the Chinese or humiliated by Netanyahu as long as it’s a matter of symbolism. On substance, he wants what he wants; and, on the big stuff, he has given up on nothing yet.
And so we dig in, with the sole relief of knowing that Obama seems as serenely confident as ever. This fight is real and bloody and gruelling. But if he succeeds — from healthcare to Israel to Wall Street — he will bring real change, at home and abroad. And abroad because of at home.
That describes exactly what I voted for. We knew, even back in the early primaries, that Obama had a different style than most politicians. He was cool-headed, even-tempered and played the long game. He never seemed to get caught up in the day-to-day horserace.
Obama’s leadership style is definitely not one that we’re used to from politicians. Today’s political coverage (and blogs are guilty of this as well) is to assign points to one team or another and add them up, like it’s some kind of basketball game. As Sullivan points out, Obama ignores most of that. This can be very frustrating for people because the stories pushed by Republicans can dominate the news cycles.
I don’t think that the health care debate has played out how Obama had planned and I also think that he’s made mistakes along the way. But Obama’s leadership style is now crystal clear after this fight and I hope that helps us understand him better. Still, I hope some of the passion that he showed in the last month for the health care fight will carry over into the next big fights – immigration, DADT repeal and financial reform. I hope Obama has learned a lesson during this fight and I think we have as well.
Tags: Andrew Sullivan, President Obama
If “staggeringly flexible on tactics” means lying, selling out the liberal base of the Democratic party, and putting corporate interests over public interests, then I guess he is right.
anonone’s view of what the liberal base wanted, that Obama sold out, was simply not achievable in 2009-2010. that is reality.
What we got isn’t what I wanted, or what anonone wanted, or even what Obama wanted, but was what Obama was willing to accept, as the best that we could get through this Congress.
Also, Obama was unwilling to make this his only priority, and to burn bridges to get better health insurance reform. That would have cost the country dearly in working for energy policy/reform, education reform, immigration reform, economic reform, financial industry reform, job building, DADT repeal, Iraq wrap-up, Afghanistan improvements, Guantanamo closing, …
This lack of single-issue focus understandably disappoints liberals who (often for incredibly good reasons) have that single-issue focus. However, the POTUS doesn’t have the luxury to let one (very important) issue cripple his ability to make progress on the other very important issues.
Burning bridges is a fine strategy for activists, and bloggers (most especially anonymous ones). It is simply stupid for a POTUS.
anonone–grow up
Comment by PBaumbach:
“was simply not achievable in 2009-2010. that is reality”
You’re wrong about that. It was never more achievable. Instead, Obomba took his political capital and went AWOL, spending the summer in the White House making secret deals with industry and failing to campaign and use public support to increase political pressure.
As it stands today, Obomba has burned the bridges with some of his most ardent supporters. That happens when you lie to people. Whether or not he can rebuild them remains to be seen. I hope that he tries with more than just lip-service.
I tend to agree that Obama did the best he could in the modern political landscape. He made mistakes – this thing wasn’t sold as well as it should have been to the American people, but he did what no other president has been able to do. That is one hell of an accomplishment. Let us not forget that Clinton tried, with Democratic majorities, and failed. This might not be ideal, but it’s SOMETHING.
Andrew Sullivan’s article is a tough read, so as a public service, I offer this English translation.
Obama has bet that this is his destiny. He is extremely timid from day to day, staggeringly unprincipled on tactics, but not at all different from Bush when you look at the big picture. He still wants to bleed white the American economy from the grass roots up, bailout Wall Street, extend the war Iraq, kill people in Afghanistan, prevent single payer health insurance and do whatever Israel says. That’s all. As you can see from his many total capitulations on the way, and agonizing foot dragging as well, it’s obvious that he hasn’t dropped his determination to not really achieve anything worthwhile at all.
This is what Sullivan has not learnt this year. Obama does not care about defeats if they only affect people who merely vote for him, not corporations and fat cats who fund his election campaigns. He’s happy to admit error; because legions of MSM press-titutes are ready to offer convoluted apologies to explain them away, while Wall St., Big Pharma, and for-profit insurers lunge at our jugular; to let “opponents” enjoy day after day in the sun; to shave off our small stuff as long as their big stuff remains. He seems oddly to not give a shit about personal insult: he doesn’t mind being affronted by the Chinese or humiliated by Netanyahu as long as it’s a matter of American jobs and Palestinian land. On substance, he doesn’t want what you want; and, on behalf the big stuff, he is firmly in their camp.
And so we acquiesce , with the cupidity of knowing that Obama seems as insouciant as ever. Sullivan’s analysis is surreal, while Obomba’s policies are really bloody. But if he and Obomba succeed — from healthcare to Israel to Wall Street — he will bring real change because we are really fucked, at home and abroad. And abroad because of at home.
I think Obama is trying to turn the ship of state to a more responsive direction but changing the status quo is difficult. The health care reform bill is a step in the right direction and getting this through hopefully makes things easier from now on. We will see.
Obama will be added to Mt. Rusmore in our life time. Suck it Teddy Roosevelt!
There is a great deal about that interpretation, delacrat, that is really unfair. But if you were looking for your Magic Negro, then I guess I can see your point.
When the tale gets told over what happened to HCR, I think that the two mistakes here are going to be 1) MIA Messaging and 2) Deference to Congress. Congress is supposed to be a co-equal branch of government, but with the kind of polarization that is endemic down there, you won’t be able to get anything done as long as nurturing that polarization is huge portions of Congress think is their only job now. Because as long as obstruction is Job One, deferring to your co-equal partner is no longer a way to get anything done. Unfortunately, that leaves the Executive stepping into the breach and gathering even more power to itself. Which we should really, really not be rooting for. But apparently we have an awful lot of people who no longer have any interests in government working the way it was intended. If I was Obama, I would just bring the bill writing apparatus into the White House — start writing what is wanted, deliver it to Congress, tell them what bits are non-negotiable and let them deliver the results. That was the BushCo model and I hated that, but maybe Congress will always be completely dysfunctional.
lack of single-issue focus understandably disappoints liberals
The #1 issue for anyone from the center or the left is jobs and the economy.
(on the right, the #1 issue is scooping up more money for the wealthy and damn the economy, but that’s another story)
And real HCR is a key enabler of prosperity. Without real HCR, the economy is fighting uphill all the time. The private insurance system is a drag on the economy and on entrepreneurship.
So you will have to excuse us for focusing on HCR. None of the other “single issues” affect the economy the way HCR does. It is a foundational issue.
A powerful game has been played on the american people. When Obama was a state senator he supported single payer (its on youtube) he cant deny it. Obama, Rahm and Rahm’s brother Emanuel took “single payer off the table” from the very beginning, when they made the first dirty deal with Big Pharma. When they invited” Parties of interest” to their first round table, they denied access to any of the Physicans for National Health Care or the American Nurses assoc who supported single payer! They DENIED the ability to at least have a review of a new system, put real cost controls on the table, failed to have the Congressional Budget Office do the numbers that would have proved the trillions in savings single payer would provide. When literally every civilized, industrialized nation in the world has single payer, someone please tell me how we keep our JOBS from going to single payer nations?
Instead, Obama invited the AMA (American Medical Association) who hated medicare, medicaid and hate any reform. Many of the doctors from that organization left on masse to form PHNP. The fastest growing doctors/nurses group in the country!
Why did 65 progressives (so called) tell us for over one year, we will not vote for this bill if it doesnt include the public option. They all caved. Moveon, SEIU and Daily Kos instead of going after the 34 demorats who didnt support this bill, went after the progressives…Dennis Kucnich. While the repukes RAIL against this corporate giveaway, I have now come to the conclusion that “collusion” by both parties is at the heart of it all. This health care bill is conservative, could have been written by Richard Nixon and was written by AHIP. Obama and his regime have managed to destroy the progressive movement by battering and beating any progressive move towards real health care reform. Rahm alled the progressives “fucking retards”! The republicans SHOULD LOVE THIS BILL! Their support for corporate america is IN this bill.
The single payers will not and are not giving up. It aint over yet people! Moveon, SEIU and Daily KOS lost all their credibility. Firedoglake is/was correct….we were ALL sold out to maintain the for profit health care industry.
cassandra m,
If you can cite anything unfair in my post, please let me know.
And the fact that Congress is as feckless as the president, has something to do with his “do what ever your corporate donors say” “leadership” style.
delacrat: “MSM press-titutes”
I like it (the rest of your post, not so much). Did you come up with this label? It certainly is apt.
“Firedoglake is/was correct….we were ALL sold out to maintain the for profit health care industry.”
Just because you fail to approve of or understand the strategy does not make the strategy fruitless. Sorry. This bill, corporate-friendly as it is, passed by a hair. To pretend support would have materialized for something more liberal mocks reality.
Geezer,
The support for a more liberal bill was only lacking in places like congress, k-street, Pfizer, Aetna … etc .
And yet here you are thinking that there was a path to a more liberal bill. The path to a more liberal bill would be a more liberal Congress.
And my previous post was an explanation of why I thought your post was unfair, delacrat. Perhaps you would do me the courtesy of reading that I write before responding to it.
I agree with MIA messaging and deference to Congress, but you can’t ignore the secret deals with industry and the lying, all of which has been documented. Those were totally Obomba’s doings, and because of them, he got the bill that he and the corporations wanted, not what he promised and not what the American people wanted.
You asked earlier if life together will always be like this and I’m afraid that the answer is yes. And the reason is the fact that you can say this with a straight face:
but you can’t ignore the secret deals with industry and the lying, all of which has been documented.
As if there was something secret about the overall strategy here. As if I have ALREADY talked about this over and over. As if no one here ever says anything that you will hear and acknowledge. You won’t. It is all about your grievances, your whining, your offenses. And as long as you continue to step up here pretending that people here is been in a good faith conversation with you about all of this all along and it is YOU who keeps failing to return the favor — well, yes, it is going to be this bad.
That said, the “secret” deals were not so secret. That is largely a fiction of the repubs, but it was pretty widely known this time last year that the Obama Administration had decided on a strategy to get HCR. And a big part of that was to take all of the Clinton -era obstacles off of the table. That included getting both pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies on their side. Now you can insist on the “secret” and insist that they were “side deals” but at the end of the day this was all part of the visible strategy to get this done. Hiding behind the hyperbole is just plain stupid. Because all that does is just point out the fact that not only have you not been paying attention, but you utterly missed your chance to influence this strategy. Which was Feb, March of last year.
“getting both pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies on their side.”
Chickens would be better off if they got Colonel Sanders and Frank Perdue on their side.
And yet here you are thinking that there was a path to a more liberal bill. The path to a more liberal bill would be a more liberal Congress.
That’s what some people said when the Senate bill passed. They were willing to stop right there.
But then we got the sidecar through with a LESS liberal Congress (assuming it clears the Senate). It’s all in the leadership effort.
As one who had issues with this bill (I still think single-payer is the only thing that’s going to give us everything we need), and as one who probably thought that this bill was dead a long time ago, I have to give props to Obama for getting something passed something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.
Congrats, now get back to work 🙂
So you’re OK with paying off the drug companies and insurance companies with the hard-earned dollars of American citizens to get them “on their side?” And since you claim that the deals were not secret, do you know what the deals were and with whom? No, you don’t, because they are still secret. It isn’t much different than Cheney working with the oil companies to develop energy policy. There was nothing visible about it.
The facts are clear. Obomba broke virtually all his major promises about HCR and lied about it, too. That is all documented for all to see. Whenever the choice was between saving the public money or preserving corporate profits, Obomba always chose corporate profits over saving the public money. Obomba didn’t get the insurance and pharma companies on his side. They got him on their side.
I have been paying attention, and you know it. You just can’t face the fact that he said ““Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange, including a public option” while at the exact same time he was selling it out to the insurance companies. That isn’t hyperbole; that isn’t an exaggeration; that’s a fact.
I thought that my chance to influence HCR was by contributing to Obomba’s campaign and voting for him because, silly me, I thought he was telling the truth. But if you think that the opportunity was Feb. March of last year, then why was Obomba still promising the public option last fall?
I’ve been critical of the bill too. But I am enjoying the political win. That alone is worth something. Maybe Democrats will learn to like the taste of winning, and stop trying so hard to get back to their minority offices.
Maybe Obama has learned a lesson, that there are rewards and no penalty for going left. The HCR effort saddled him with entangling alliances with pharma and insurance. My wishful thinking is that with HCR “behind him,” we will see a less corporate-influenced Obama.
I am skeptical that this bill will be fixed from the left. I think the next stop on this train is the right will get their hands on it.
No, you don’t, because they are still secret.
This is quite wrong. Some of those details have been discussed on other useless conversations I’ve had with you and all of them are out on the web.
Google is your friend.
The White House has not released the details of the meetings or the deals and have refused to comment on what has been leaked. You should try paying attention:
“The Huffington Post in August published a memo that outlined the deal struck between the White House and Big Pharma — a deal the White House still refuses to acknowledge publicly, even though it served as a blueprint for legislation.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/house-gop-going-after-hea_n_437823.html