Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
I'm not sure which stage of grief we're in with the Obama presidency but I rather enjoyed this headline from the Washington Post this weekend:
Can any president succeed in today’s political world?
Why, I haven't heard that question since the late 1970s!
Here's a snippet of the argument:
News is being made — and covered — literally every minute of the day across the world and, as president, Obama is forced to read and react to virtually all of it. (One advantage for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the presidential election: As a challenger candidate, he can pick and choose where he sounds off.)
Layer over the constant stream of news with the fact that Twitter, blogs and cable television turn every slip of the tongue, misstatements or gaffe into a mountain — “the private sector is doing fine” being a prime, recent example — and it’s clear that the idea that the president can drive the hourly, daily or weekly message of his choosing feels outdated. The bully pulpit may still exist, but it’s far less bully than it once was.
That’s especially true not only because the fracturing of the media makes it hard to push a clear message but also because roughly half of the American public doesn’t want to hear the message (whatever it is) because it is of the other party.
As someone who thinks Americans place far too much trust and hope in their elected officials, I don't mind it if people realize that these politicians aren't so hot. But this almost seems more a lament for the loss of control the media once held than anything else.
And given how the media have frequently crafted narratives or pushed candidacies that hurt the country, I can't be too sad about it.
Still, this leads me to another question. Normally I argue that we can't analyze how well a presidency is going while we're in it. Even if you just look at the last several presidents, their good and bad decisions look different with a bit of distance. Do we have the perspective needed to judge this presidency?
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
I kind of suspected it was a convenient combination of projection and an attempt at desensitization when the left attacked Bush for shredding the Constitution and behaving like a tyrant, for when the real left-wing thing occurred. I'd say that's been confirmed.
And yes, that "fracturing of the media makes it hard to push a clear message" sounds like a lament that mainstream media can't control the message for the incumbent Democrat the way it used to. So sad.
Oct '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
"we can't analyze how well a presidency is going while we're in it. Even if you just look at the last several presidents, their good and bad decisions look different with a bit of distance. Do we have the perspective needed to judge this presidency?"
I really do not agree. If you have a foundation based on fundamental principles, then you have a ready made gauge to measure the actions of every politician, and a way of knowing, in advance, whether their reign will be a "success" or not.
Success; maintaining and protecting the freedom and property of those who elected you, based on Constitutional measures.
Why is this hard?
And, was it that hard to measure the presidency of GWB? He aggressively dealt with 911 with various military actions, and he surrendered the domestic policy of America to the left. We knew Reagan during his presidency, and he is still, after 25 years, the same guy.
Or am I wrong?
Jun '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
The media would have less to lament about the message if Obama had a clear governing philosophy. Unless you believe that his governing philosophy must remain concealed until after his second election. Well boo-hoo, the leftist media is complaining that the public won't swallow their lies.
Jun '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
If a petulant and reckless man-child of a President can somehow extend the fluke of his presidency beyond one term, by lying about nearly everything, then we are in big trouble. We'll find out in November.
Apr '12
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
I think we're going to be surprised to see how quickly the presidential historians throw Obama under the bus. Right now, as his presidency ends, his greatest claim is: I saved the nation from a depression, or not.
Just one comment about the article: This is the same media that mocks intelligent conservatives when they fail do demonstrate a grasp of what's important to East Coast journalists.
Sep '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
I just wonder what this article would've sounded like if it were written four years ago:
Sounds plausible, right? [giggle]
Dec '11
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
When you use the bully pulpit more like a bully that Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift would sing about well............ What do you expect?
May '12
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
The hard part is defining how a president succeeds:
Not at war? maybe, but often wars aren't of our choosing.
GDP expanding? No, private enterprise creates wealth through risk taking and innovation. Gov't can only hinder this via regulation and misallocation of capital.
Employment increasing? No, see GDP.
Education improving? Should be a state/local issue.
Free Trade - there is something the executive branch can do well.
Immigration and Naturalization - ahh another area the executive could succeed.
Deliver the mail - an opportunity to excel.
Funny that the things the executive is charged with and could succeed are failures and the things the fed gov't doesn't or shouldn't control are not succeeding precisely because of federal intervention.
May '12
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
I agree with raycon on this. While one policy or another may take some time to come to fruition, it seems evident to me how well each President is serving the office, in real time, and this regardless of the prevailing media winds.
Personal anecdote just for fun: In 1976, I went on a trip to the then URSS with my High School economics class (yes, quite an anomaly at the time) and we met with carefully selected students from the best schools in Moscow. While discussing this and that, it became evident that they not only didn't know that Nixon had resigned in disgrace, they praised him greatly for having instituted detente. For those old enough to remember just how hated Nixon was in the 70's ( for you youngsters: even more so than W), you'll understand how surprised I was.
Jan '11
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
Can the presidency succeed?
Well, an American dictatorship/monarchy that addresses and solves every problem in just four years ... that can't succeed. If that's what The NY Times thinks the presidency is, forget it.
But this question has been asked of two somewhat recent presidencies (Carter and now Obama), both of whom shared an attribute which tells the tale: neither Carter nor Obama could function with opposition.
To make a sports analogy, offense is easy when the other side doesn't play defense. Obama can't shoot when there's someone guarding him. That's why he calls so many fouls; he wants to shoot free throws, unobstructed. Opposition annoys him. He doesn't know how to deal with it, and he just wants it to go away.
Give Clinton credit; he understood that there was opposition, and he learned how to use it to his advantage. Reagan was the same.
Like a contract, government is when the principals come to agreement. If they don't agree, there is no contract. One side can't just go ahead as if the contract "should have" been agreed to.
A messiahship can't work. The presidency can.
Mar '11
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
If it wasn't clear before, we really are back in the Carter years
Aug '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
So the President who runs multiple inane "town hall meetings" on Twitter, whose campaign was famous for mobilization on the Internet, whose main media support in the 2008 primaries vs Clinton came from niche cable personalities... is having his message usurped by new media paradigms?Cry me a river. Petard, hoisted, etc.
Jun '10
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
Not really. Foreign leaders had Carter pegged for his naivety. The Iranians knew they could attack our embassy with impunity, and the Soviets were emboldened to invade Afghanistan. A fool is at least a known quantity.
President Obama is a different kettle of fish. In Nicholas Sarkozy's estimation, someone who is "dangerously alien." Such rare moments of candor should be taken seriously. Obama is dangerous because his motivations are entirely self-centered, and his actions are almost always ill-considered. Can you imagine a rational politician deciding that Fast & Furious was somehow a good idea???
God helps us if he gets reelected.
Feb '11
Re: Washington Post: Can Any President Succeed?
"As someone who thinks Americans place far too much trust and hope in their elected officials, I don't mind it if people realize that these politicians aren't so hot."
I agree. A lefty friend laments in the same sentence that all politicians are corrupt, but she wants to give more and more power to the Democrat politicians. This madness cannot continue. We don't need a rock star in the Presidency, and we don't need a leader to create jobs. We need an Executive who is constrained by our Constitution and understands the role of the president as defined therein.
I find myself longing for Reagan again (like, every day) but I also realize that the rosy nostalgia the whole nation, even Reagan's political enemies, seem to have developed for him belies the actual difficulties he encountered. We don't need a savior. We need a nation of citizens who place their selfish desires after their obligations to civic society.
Finally, to answer your question, I don't believe we have the perspective to correctly judge this president. In the future, these past three years will likely look even worse!