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.