(http://www.politico.com/)
7 stories Obama doesn't want told
By: John F. Harris
November 30, 2009 05:45 AM EST
Presidential politics is about storytelling. Presented with a vivid
storyline, voters naturally tend to fit every new event or piece of
information
into a picture that is already neatly framed in their minds.
No one understands this better than _Barack Obama_
(http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/BarackObama) and his team, who
_won the 2008 election_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15301.html) in part because
they were better storytellers than the opposition. The pro-Obama narrative
featured an almost mystically talented young idealist who stood for change in
a disciplined and thoughtful way. This easily outpowered the anti-Obama
narrative, featuring an opportunistic Chicago pol with dubious relationships
who was more liberal than he was letting on.
A year into his presidency, however, Obama’s gift for controlling his
image shows signs of faltering. As Washington returns to work from the
Thanksgiving holiday, there are several anti-Obama storylines gaining
momentum.
The Obama White House _argues that all of these storylines_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25003.html) are inaccurate or
unfair. In some
cases these anti-Obama narratives are fanned by Republicans, in some cases
by reporters and commentators.
But they all are serious threats to Obama, if they gain enough currency to
become the dominant frame through which people interpret the president’s
actions and motives.
Here are seven storylines Obama needs to worry about:
He thinks he’s playing with Monopoly money
Economists and business leaders from across the ideological spectrum were
urging the new president on last winter when he signed onto more than a
trillion in _stimulus spending_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17335.html) and bank and auto
bailouts during his first weeks in office. Many,
though far from all, of these same people now agree that these actions
helped avert an even worse financial catastrophe.
Along the way, however, it is clear Obama underestimated the political
consequences that flow from the perception that he is a profligate spender. He
also misjudged the anger in middle America about bailouts with weak and
sporadic public explanations of why he believed they were necessary.
The flight of independents away from _Democrats_
(http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/Democrats) last summer — the
trend that recently
hammered Democrats in off-year elections in Virginia — coincided with what
polls
show was alarm among these voters about undisciplined big government and
runaway spending. The likely passage of a health care reform package
criticized as weak on cost-control will compound the problem.
Obama understands the political peril, and his team is signaling that he
will use the 2010 State of the Union address to emphasize fiscal discipline.
The political challenge, however, is an even bigger substantive challenge—
since the most convincing way to project fiscal discipline would be
actually to impose spending reductions that would cramp his own agenda and
that of
congressional Democrats.
Too much Leonard Nimoy
People used to make fun of _Bill Clinton’s_
(http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/BillClinton) misty-eyed,
raspy-voiced claims that, “I feel
your pain.”
The reality, however, is that Clinton’s dozen years as governor before
becoming president really did leave him with a vivid sense of the concrete
human dimensions of policy. He did not view programs as abstractions — he
viewed them in terms of actual people he knew by name.
Obama, a legislator and law professor, is fluent in describing the nuances
of problems. But his intellectuality has contributed to a growing critique
that decisions are detached from rock-bottom principles.
Both Maureen Dowd in The New York Times and Joel Achenbach of The
Washington Post have likened him to Star Trek’s Mr. Spock.
The Spock imagery has been especially strong during the extended review
Obama has undertaken of Afghanistan policy. He’ll announce the results on
Tuesday. The speech’s success will be judged not only on the logic of the
presentation but on whether Obama communicates in a more visceral way what
progress looks like and why it is worth achieving. No soldier wants to take a
bullet in the name of nuance.
That’s the Chicago Way
This is a storyline that’s likely taken root more firmly in Washington
than around the country. The rap is that his _West Wing_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29896.html) is dominated by
brass-knuckled pols.
It does not help that many West Wing aides seem to relish an image of
themselves as shrewd, brass-knuckled political types. In a Washington Post
story this month, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, referring to
most of Obama’s team, said, “We are all campaign hacks.”
The problem is that many voters took Obama seriously in 2008 when he
talked about wanting to create a more reasoned, non-partisan style of
governance
in Washington. When Republicans showed scant interest in cooperating with
Obama at the start, the Obama West Wing gladly reverted to campaign hack
mode.
The examples of Chicago-style politics include their delight in public
battles with Rush Limbaugh and Fox News and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
(There was also a semi-public campaign of leaks aimed at _Greg Craig_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29508.html) , the White House
counsel who
fell out of favor.) In private, the Obama team cut an early deal — to the
distaste of many congressional Democrats — that gave favorable terms to the
pharmaceutical lobby in exchange for their backing his health care plans.
The lesson that many Washington insiders have drawn is that Obama wants to
buy off the people he can and bowl over those he can’t. If that perception
spreads beyond Washington this will scuff Obama’s brand as a new style of
political leader.
He’s a pushover
If you are going to be known as a fighter, you might as well reap the
benefits. But some of the same insider circles that are starting to view Obama
as a bully are also starting to whisper that he’s a patsy.
It seems a bit contradictory, to be sure. But it’s a perception that began
when Obama several times laid down lines — then let people cross them with
seeming impunity. Last summer he told Democrats they better not go home
for recess until a critical health care vote but they blew him off. He told
the Israeli government he wanted a freeze in settlements but no one took him
seriously. Even _Fox News_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29510.html) — which his aides
prominently said should not be treated like a
real news organization — then got interview time for its White House
correspondent.
In truth, most of these episodes do not amount to much. But this
unflattering storyline would take a more serious turn if Obama is seen as
unable to
deliver on his stern warnings in the escalating conflict with Iran over its
nuclear program.
He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call,
somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe
That line belonged to _George H.W. Bush_
(http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/GeorgeHWBush) , excoriating
Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988.
But it highlights a continuing reality: In presidential politics the safe
ground has always been to be an American exceptionalist.
Politicians of both parties have embraced the idea that this country —
because of its power and/or the hand of Providence — should be a singular
force in the world. It would be hugely unwelcome for Obama if the perception
took root that he is comfortable with a relative decline in U.S. influence or
position in the world.
On this score, the reviews of Obama’s recent _Asia trip_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29782.html) were harsh.
His peculiar bow to the emperor of Japan was symbolic. But his
lots-of-velvet, not-much-iron approach to China had substantive implications.
On the left, the budding storyline is that Obama has retreated from human
rights in the name of cynical realism. On the right, it is that he is more
interested in being President of the World than President of the United
States, a critique that will be heard more in December as he stops in Oslo to
pick up his Nobel Prize and then in Copenhagen for an international summit
on curbing greenhouse gases.
President Pelosi
No figure in _Barack Obama’s_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29922.html) Washington, including
Obama, has had more success in advancing
his will than the speaker of the House, despite public approval ratings that
hover in the range of Dick Cheney’s. With a mix of tough party discipline
and shrewd vote-counting, she passed a version of the stimulus bill largely
written by congressional Democrats, passed climate legislation, and passed
her chamber’s version of health care reform. She and anti-war liberals in
her caucus are clearly affecting the White House’s Afghanistan
calculations.
The great hazard for Obama is if Republicans or journalists conclude — as
some already have — that Pelosi’s achievements are more impressive than
Obama’s or come at his expense.
This conclusion seems premature, especially with the final chapter of the
_health care drama_ (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29959.html)
yet to be written.
But it is clear that Obama has allowed the speaker to become more nearly
an equal — and far from a subordinate — than many of his predecessors of
both parties would have thought wise.
He’s in love with the man in the mirror
No one becomes president without a fair share of what the French call
amour propre. Does Obama have more than his share of self-regard?
It’s a common theme of Washington buzz that Obama is _over-exposed_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29981.html) . He gives interviews on
his sports obsessions to ESPN, cracks wise with Leno and Letterman, discusses
his fitness with Men’s Health, discusses his marriage in a joint interview
with first lady Michelle Obama for The New York Times. A photo the other
day caught him leaving the White House clutching a copy of GQ featuring
himself.
White House aides say making Obama widely available is the right strategy
for communicating with Americans in an era of highly fragmented media.
But, as the novelty of a new president wears off, the Obama cult of
personality risks coming off as mere vanity unless it is harnessed to tangible
achievements.
That is why the next couple of months — with health care and _Afghanistan_
(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29962.html) jostling at center
stage — will likely carry a long echo. Obama’s best hope of nipping bad
storylines is to replace them with good ones rooted in public perceptions of
his effectiveness.
© 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC (http://www.irides.com/)
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