Crisis of Expectations

Tomorrow is a decisive day for the future of the presidency of Barack Obama in Washington. The American president will reveal to Congress the details of his health care system reform in a desperate attempt to rescue it from collapse. More than anything else, this domestic initiative reflects the bumpy road that took the ex-senator from historic elections last November to a drastic slump in the polls. In his first seven months in office, the disapproval rating of his management soared from 19.3 to 42.2 percent.

The White House is suffering a crisis of great expectations with those the “Obama Revolution” brought to power in January. The administration of the first African-American president opened with an ambitious agenda of reforms ranging from foreign policy and the economy to health care, from climate change and energy to the financial system. These packages comprised the promise of change that won the elections in 2008.

However, communication errors, failed political strategies and confusion in the selection of priorities have been weakening the enormous popularity and hope that he embodied. From the discussion of the first initiative, which was the plan to save the economy, the White House deferred a good portion of the details to congressmen and former colleagues of the president with a negative image of 60 percent. Congress projecting the image of controlling the agenda has been a swift blow to Obama’s reputation and image as a leader outside of traditional politics and as a promoter of transparency.

In foreign policy, there are also delusions. The new administration was elected for its idea of breaking free from the errors of its predecessor, George W. Bush and his administration, which left two complicated war-fronts: Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, instead of withdrawing from both of the conflicts that he inherited, Obama has chosen the war against the Taliban as a matter to settle himself. The problem is that the military situation in the latter is going from bad to worse, and in the upcoming months, Washington will have to decide to send more troops. It would not be surprising if, very soon, the backlash against the U.S. military presence in Kabul reaches the level of protests against the war in Iraq, which weakened the Bush government.

In domestic politics, health care reform has also suffered the same glitches. It has been captured by congressmen, and lacking transparency and clarity all around where change lies. Obama and his political team, which received world renown for winning a presidential campaign in spite of everything, has been incapable of explaining its most important projects to the American people. Within weeks, the initiative has grown from being a legislative package which symbolized a new progressive era in the U.S., to a challenge that would restore the initiative to the government.

The misguided management of health care reform has not only generated anxiety among citizens, who ignore the details of the bill of more than one thousand pages, but also revitalized conservative opposition, which was lost and without flags. These “first steps” of the administration have been consolidating a dangerous image of the president as a young and inexperienced leader who misinterpreted his popularity as an ambitious mandate for change. However, his management has barely begun and it would be premature to affirm that the Democratic bill has already lost its course. The truth is that both the honeymoon and the charismatic spell of President Obama are already a part of the past.