The first shrink Tom Smith

M. Dowd writes a column that is not really very insightful.  I think a psychologist might call it projection. In any event, she is convincing herself that her hopes about Obama are true.  They might be, but I don't think so.  I don't doubt that BHO has the ability to makes lots of people like him.  I don't, because lots of people do like him.  I think what is emerging, however, is a picture of a man who is very good at the show, which is a big part of politics, and to be fair, of leadership. It's the PR part of the job and that's a huge part of politics.  But there's another even bigger part of a job like President, and that is the executive part, the ability of getting lots of diverse people to cooperate and get complicated things done.  That I am not seeing. People wondered why Obama just handed over the stimulus package to Pelosi.  I think a plausible explanation is that he did so because he had to, because he did not have what it would take to do anything besides that.  This is not a big problem for him if he is happy with the product, and I think he had no big objection to the first stimulus package.  But it is a problem if he wants Congress to do something outside of its ordinary course of business, so to speak, like rush through cap and trade, health care and his other priorities.  

Pulling any of these big plans off would be very difficult.  Forget about whether it's a good idea, and I think they are very much not. What it would be for sure is a huge complicated project, involving many compromises, lots of negotiations, in short, a huge, complicated undertaking, requiring a lot of practical leadership.  That I don't see. I don't see anybody in BHO's administration who can do it for him either. Rahm Emmanuel may be ruthless, but he can't push senior US Senators around if they don't want to be pushed and if they are in purple or red states.

People sometimes said about Reagan something that wasn't actually true, but made a fair point.  He lacks all the qualities necessary to be a great President, some said, except leadership.  We shall see, but about Obama, I suspect one might be able to say, he has all the qualities necessary to be a great President, except leadership.  (I'm defining "great" here as extremely influential, not necessarily in the best interests of the country.)

Comments

[PaulD]

I would also note that Pelosi and Reid do not have the leadership skills to compensate for Obama.

[dearieme]

"Great men are almost always bad men." This is usually attributed to Lord Acton, though I dare say that Americans will often attribute it to Edison, or Jefferson or....

[ddbb]

He also seems to be very impressed by the trappings of the office. From the fake columns at the convention to the faux presidential candidate seal to the nonexistent "Office of the President-Elect" etc . . . I'm guessing he is far too caught up in the grandeur of the office to understand what leadership really is.

[Tom Smith]

Sort of the exact opposite of Eisenhower.