Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
One of Politico's front page articles this morning asks a question that many political observers have been pondering, especially in light of the recent election results: "The Ego Factor: Can Barack Obama change?"
Politico asks:
Is [Obama] capable of growth? And how painful the evolution?
Many Obama observers regard these as central questions about his presidency, as he tries to recover from an election debacle that many people warned was coming for a year, and that even some sympathizers regarded as a natural comeuppance for an exceptionally confident man who slipped into overconfidence.
The results also served as a reminder that Obama is not immune from a timeless truth: Every president’s defects are in part a magnification of his virtues.
Self-regard can blur into self-delusion. According to many Obama supporters and skeptics alike, it is still to be seen whether Obama shares with his most successful predecessors a capacity for self-critique and self-correction....
This misplaced confidence, by some lights, did not merely lead to political miscalculations. It strained the emotional connection with voters on which the most successful presidents depend. Restoring that connection, and regaining the sympathy to be extended a second chance, requires a show of modesty.
“Humility is a great quality, and it’s one that people will respect,” said historian Douglas Brinkley, who teaches at Rice University. “Ronald Reagan could be seen as a polarizing presence, but he also knew how to play humble when it was necessary. Where is President Obama’s self-deprecating humor? Kennedy and Reagan could both be very self-deprecating. People liked that.”
"The worst thing that happened to Obama is he’s lost a lot of his aura. Even his friends think he’s thin-skinned and a bit highfalutin," he said.
Though the Politico piece concludes that "Presidents' defects are in part a magnification of virtues"--which is better, I suppose, than concluding that "the President's defects are in fact magnificent virtues"--one source quoted in the article knows better:
One veteran Obama observer was not impressed with the early signs at the Wednesday news conference, believing that the president seemed impassive compared to the magnitude of the setback.
“Where’s the guy who out-hustled Hillary Clinton?” asked former Des Moines Register reporter David Yepsen, now director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. “I don’t think he realizes the mess he’s in, that he’s staring into his political grave. I was watching that press conference the other day, and I’m thinking, ‘Does he really get it?’ Where are the heads that should be rolling? Where’s the acknowledgment things have gone really wrong? I know he wants to project confidence, but come on.”
Interestingly, the Politico piece ended by quoting an excerpt from The Audacity of Hope, where Obama is writing about the embarrassing nature of rejection and loss. "It’s impossible not to feel at some level as if you have been personally repudiated by the entire community, that you don’t quite have what it takes, and that everywhere you go, the word ‘loser’ is flashing through people’s minds."
Rejection certainly can be devastating, but the marker of a great politician and leader (and person, for that matter) is how he reacts to it. In the coming months, will Obama's reaction be petty and personal, or will it be astute and political?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
It's true that a given person's particular defects are often the flip side of his particular virtues. But it's certainly not true that character flaws indicate virtue.
IMO, what we're mainly with in Obama is sham virtue. During the 2008 campaign, he made himself appear large-minded and flexible. Events are exposing that he's neither.
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Yes, I agree. Anything in excess--including virtues--can lead to vice. For instance, excessive confidence can lead to arrogance.
Jul '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Has there ever been a political figure whose acolytes have had to expend such vast amounts of contorted defensive rhetoric? Not in my lifetime.
Sometimes it seems that entire divisions of lefty pundits are full engaged, overtime, in churning out pieces that explain why absolutely nothing in Obama's fault and that we, the benighted, petulant American public, are the real problem.
May '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
It's really self-defense, don't you think, Kenneth? They are driven to try to justify their infatuation. They're not yet willing or able to admit that they fell for a sham. Truth hurts.
Jul '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
I think you're right. They're just too vain. My 85-year-old mother, who doesn't even know what the Ivy League is, broke down and wept with remorse for her Obama vote, just 6 months into his presidency.
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Do you think that the Politico writers were digging into Obama, though, by quoting the passage about rejection from The Audacity of Hope at the very end of the piece? I mean--it makes the president look a little pathetic, doesn't it, to end on that note? Here's the last paragraph of the Politico piece, with the excerpt:
Jul '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed. : Do you think that the Politico writers were digging into Obama, though, by quoting the passage about rejection from The Audacity of Hope at the very end of the piece? I mean--it makes the president look a little pathetic, doesn't it, to end on that note? Here's the last paragraph of the Politico piece, with the excerpt:
Nov 5 at 7:40am
Arrested adolescence.
May '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
I'm not vain or self-absorbed, see? I'm just confident. It's a good thing. Politico has done a great service by enabling me to feel better about me.
Jul '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
I suppose it could also be the Politico writers trying to reassure themselves: "We know he gets it. He wrote about it in his book!" They want him to reassess and regroup, and emerge stronger for the experience. They want him to "organize his life" to avoid anymore repudiations.
Well, how many tsunamis can one face in one's life?
The assumption they're making is that BHO wrote that passage. If Mr. Ayers ghosted the book, then he was writing from his experience, and BHO passed it on editorially, just like at Harvard Law Review. That would be more in keeping with what I see as his character. I'm guessing that reassessments, reorganizations and re-branding will be similarly delegated.
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Everyone gets a trophy, winners and losers alike!
Oct '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
To an extent, I think this is true. Many probably do feel the need to justify their support based on what's happened, not being able to admit that they were wrong.
There are plenty of ideologues out there who actually still like him and agree with him, though. When their policies and beliefs are shown to be so utterly and almost catastrophically wrong, they turn up the heat in their defense both of Obama as well as their own feelings.
Since Obama's the one who was going to bring those dreams to life, he's the beneficiary of that desperate justification. It's their belief system their defending, though.
May '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Well, sure Katie, but the retribution will be swift and terrible. People can never admit that they made a horrible mistake; it's much easier to think "I was lied to" ala Dubya. And then they turn on you with a vengeance.
Oct '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
I think it is a mistake to believe that psychology is the major factor in determining the degree to which this or any other President is able to change. It's a lot more about the influences around him, the politics and the people. He is in a bubble (he acknowleged the phenomenon himself) and what constitutes that bubble is a lot more important than his psychology.
Edited on Nov 5, 2010 at 10:16amMay '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Not sure I follow you, Kennedy. You mean, Bush couldn't admit he'd made a mistake in going into Iraq?
May '10
Re: Politico: Obama's Defects are Actually Virtues
Nonono, Katie. I blame you for my poor messaging. I meant that voters who swung decisively against Bush after re-electing him tried to self-justify by saying "he LIED to me!", when in fact he did not. Which is happening with Obama. Voters aren't stupid, but we all like to tell ourselves it's somebody else's fault.