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Obama: The Consummate Politician And Very Charming Man

Want a real laugh? Read or listen to all the conservatives and Republicans who insist that Democrats are scared, terrified, quaking in their boots over Newt or Michele or Rick or anyone on their side of the presidential race. Scared? Of what?

Barack Obama has been an unusual President, particularly when compared to George W. Bush. Bush loved executive orders and signing statements to bypass Congress or void laws he didn’t like, especially the ones that provided oversight of his actions. President Obama has maintained a very strict separation of powers as outlined by the Constitution. It is only recently that he has become so fed up with Congress that he is issuing executive orders that infringe on Congressional jurisdiction. His strict Constitutionalism has caused him to be called ineffective, weak and incompetent. Literally nothing has been done about our greatest problems in the past three years, and the Republicans want to lay the blame directly at the front door of the White House. They believe it doesn’t matter who they put up against the President, they will achieve their goal of making Obama a one-term president, even though on his worst day, the President’s approval rating is three times what Congress’ is.

Those who are convinced that we will have a Republican President in 2013 forget that Barack Obama has a very potent weapon in his arsenal – he’s almost as damned charming as Bill Clinton. Is “charming” a word one would apply to Newt or Mitt?

President Obama understands that it is the dissatisfied 99% who will re-elect him, and he has the ability to connect with them. Newt may have come from a similar background, in terms of income and family structure, but he lost the common touch a long time ago. He doesn’t see how bragging about his $60,000 speaking fees to people trying to survive on unemployment benefits might be a rotten idea. President Obama understands all that, which is why he said HE should be paying more taxes. While Republicans focused on where the President was born and how he lived in Indonesia for a few years, he talked about his grandfather, the World War II veteran, and his single mother making hard choices between her children and her career – choices many women face today.

But he is also capable of wheedling money out of the 1% for his campaign. It’s a neat trick, moving from the kitchen table of a working couple in Scranton, PA to a dinner party on New York’s Upper East Side. It’s also a rare talent. My younger daughter inherited it from my father. A judge once told me she was the scariest teenager he’d ever met because no one intimidated her, no matter how important he thought he was. She treated the judge the same way she treated the 80-year-old black bartender who was serving his drinks in a private club in a Southern city. It skipped a generation, by the way.

One of the most effective things Obama did as a candidate was the little neighborhood gatherings he attended. In those small groups, he listened as much as he talked, and that impressed people. In campaign mode, we can expect to see a lot of that again – listening and hearing. He can go someplace beyond the stock “I feel your pain” line that politicians use during campaigns, which is another weapon in his personal arsenal. Obama admits to not achieving what we wanted when we elected him. Accepting responsibility for failure is a bigger plus for any politician than talking up any successes. It tells people that the man they are voting for is human and fallible, which makes him more like them than like some “savior.”

If you read or listen to the opposition, you will frequently see/hear the President referred to as our “savior” or “messiah.” To the opposition, it is a way to tell us that we screwed up and Obama has not “saved” us. Thing is, we never use those words to describe him, never have. Yes, we are disappointed in what has not been done and most of the fervor and passion is gone. But, are we really so dumb as to be comparing him to some ideal of a President? Did we really think that he could pull legislation out of his butt and get it passed? Didn’t we express disgust with the way Bush ran the government? We elected Barack Obama in part because he promised to stop the practice of abusing presidential power. He kept that promise. The opposition calls them “lies” – those campaign promises that have not been fulfilled. Bill Clinton was an anomaly. In his first two years, he kept 73% of his campaign promises, with a Democratic House and Senate and an opposition that hadn’t rewritten the filibuster rules to allow killing almost 300 bills. Most presidents, most politicians, don’t come anywhere near that level of fulfillment. The only way President Obama could have kept his campaign promises would have been to break the one about abuses of presidential power.

As the year goes by, we will see a lot of stories like the ones in the last few days – the President at a kitchen table, the President at an official event, the President at a high-priced fund raiser. The Republicans should be afraid, be very afraid, because our President is totally comfortable in all those settings. Can they say the same about any of their candidates?

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• Barack Obama’s popularity down, but Newt Gingrich worse, says poll – Montreal Gazette (montrealgazette.com)
• Obama’s crossover message, from kitchen to mansion (sfgate.com)