The young U.S. president may have learned more over the course of the last week than over his entire political career. He definitely learned that governing is more difficult than winning the most exhausting electoral campaign in history. Obama has learned, and learns every day, from the brutal bumps by others and from his own mistakes.
He already knows how difficult it will be to keep his two greatest promises–or to pretend that he is keeping them (in politics it’s often the same thing).
The first promise, of the change Obama was to bring to Washington; of transforming both the city and the American politics, was ruined by the nomination of Tom Daschle as secretary of health and human services.
Daschle was one of the people closest to Obama and at the same time one of the symbols against which Obama has led his two year long campaign: special interests in Washington. Daschle didn’t just owe $146,000 in taxes. An even bigger contrast to Obama’s rhetoric was in what Daschle legally did after 2004, when he was voted out of the Senate after 18 years. This is to say, he made a large sum of money ($2 million in 2008 alone) and nobody really knows how– probably by arranging “contacts.”
Daschle was an “adviser” of a large lobbying law firm working in Washington on behalf of, among others, firms from the pharmaceutical industry. Officially he was not a lobbyist, so until Daschle’s resignation, Obama was able to make it seem that by promoting Daschle, he was faithful to the rule of not hiring lobbyists to work for the government in the areas in which they had lobbied.
When the tax scandal came to light, Obama still defended his friend along the lines of: maybe he sinned, but he’s an expert. It makes some sense, but this is Obama’s fundamental problem. He didn’t promise Americans a government of experts, but a government of change, the end of special interests, and a moral regeneration. Daschle had to go.
The secretary of treasury, Timothy Geithner, who also failed to pay his taxes, was lucky to be confirmed first and so avoid the consequences. The truth is that if Geithner does a great job, Americans will forgive him his tax trouble. But if he fails, Obama will eventually have to dismiss him, and the political consequences will be much more severe than they would be right now.
In a similarly painful manner, Obama became disillusioned about bipartisan politics (if he ever really believed in it). The stimulus package, the most important bill early in Obama’s term, was met by huge resistance in the Congress. Obama accuses Republicans of being obstinate, while they accuse him of not wanting to negotiate with them at all. And both sides have a point. Either way, by the end of the week Obama was so mad that his assurances about facing the crisis together were replaced by declarations that he wouldn’t make deals with Republicans “at the expense of the American people.”
Obama has to come to terms with the fact that the opposition may have completely different ideas for curing the economy. Above all, he has to accept a simple truth: the opposition by definition has to oppose those in power. If its role was to pat the government on the back, it would be called “patosition.”
Opposition comes together with the authority only in situations of absolute necessity. Obama tried to create such an impression last week. Which is why he then gave up his famous (and somewhat beautiful) rhetoric of hope. He learned that fear is a much stronger political tool. As a consequence, Obama and his press secretary spoke every day of a possible catastrophe and of the country standing at an abyss. They warned Republicans that the nation was looking at those who didn’t want to save the fatherland from that abyss (that is vote for Obama’s stimulus package).
The problem is that the nation doesn’t really believe that Obama’s stimulus package is the only hope. Over two weeks the support for the plan fell from 63% to 51% and most Americans believe that the package should be smaller than what the Democrats propose.
Interestingly, Obama himself still enjoys the support of almost two thirds of Americans. In this horrible week the new president had some great moments. For example, when he bravely met with the relatives of the victims of 9/11 and of Al-Qaeda’s attack on the USS Cole, many of whom decried his decision to close Guantanamo. Or when, introducing the new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, he said: “There are bankers and managers, professors and unionists among us. You’ve got some who are economists. And some folks who think they’re economists.” The entire country laughed.
Obama is a very talented politician. The last few days did not give us an answer as to whether he will govern well.
America is a divided country along ideological lines.
about half of Americans don’t want any gov or less and less gov.
the other half states that gov must regulate to keep things fair.
America is a declining empire trying desperately to hang on to its world status.
it will do that by maintaining its military strength but even that will wane as America goes deeper and deeper in debt. The Chinese can only loan so much money to America to be paid back by a devalued dollar.
Americans have accepted its government position that a mega military is needed for defense.
what most Americans don’t realize is this mega military is for offense to benefit the few.
it took years of conditioning by the industrial military complex to convince Americans of their need for a mega military complex. It worked even the liberals want to increase the size of our war machine.
This industrial military complex is so powerful they now control much of the mass media. Brilliant move on their part to control the mentality of the populace.
we even have southern states the raise their children generation after generation to fight in these wars for profits and their parents call them heroes for doing so.
Few will understand my words, very few.