Is Barack Obama's personality crippling his presidency?

[Indy Texas]

Vanity Fair's recent piece, "Obama the Loner" offers a look at the hermetic style of 44's tenure and how it has made it harder for him to accomplish his agenda.

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Obama's detachment from his aides and willingness to delegate arguably hurt him most with the disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the signature achievement of his presidency. And in a weird way, it's created a dynamic very similar to that of the Reagan White House - a detached, isolated president who is extremely close to his wife and a handful of friends, who lets outsized personalities roam the halls of power more or less doing as they please in his stead. In Reagan's time, the eminences grises were James Baker, Ed Meese and Donald Regan. In Obama's, they have been Biden, Hillary Clinton (and at times, even her husband), Rahm Emanuel and Eric Holder.

In a Washington that had already lost a lot of its collegiality by the time Obama took office, he has only furthered the stifling of rapport among the parties and between Congress and the White House...

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Then, there is his inability to exercise influence within his own party. The Democratic caucus has held itself together remarkably better in recent years than the Republicans, whose Hamas and Fatah wings are in a state of constant war. But all of this has been the work of Pelosi and Reid, not of the President.

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If, as some Obama critics have argued, America voted for the president in 2008 because they were more entranced with the "idea" of an Obama presidency than they were with the actual execution of one, Obama has presented himself to the very people in positions to help him as little more than an idea, and one that they have little means of grasping.

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Obama's lousy "donor maintenance" especially when compared to the glad-handing, back-slapping Clintons, was on full display during 2012. And if it bruises the egos of a few wealthy people, the real harm is done to Obama himself, who forfeits the opportunity to get to know people who are genuinely interested in helping him and who offer him something he lacks. Obama's lack of understanding of the "private sector" isn't simply a chunk of Republican red meat; it's a fact. That doesn't make him a red flag-waving Marxist, but it does mean he lacks a significant understanding of the individuals and firms he is crafting laws to impact. And when he fails to forge meaningful relationships with the liberal and Democratic elements of the business community, it hurts his already dim reputation in the business community as a whole.

History is full of leaders who have been ruined by the behavior Obama has engaged in during his presidency. Jimmy Carter went to the White House pitching himself as an Everyman untainted by the dirtiness of Washington politics-as-usual; but his aloof detachment from Congress and the powers that be resulted in a single term with no major policy achievements and a failed coup from within his own party. Texas governor Dolph Briscoe was elected in 1972 as a reformer in the wake of major scandals in the previous administration, but his preference for isolating himself at his ranch and maintaining a state of civil indifference to the Legislature made his legacy that of an inconsequential placeholder rather than a reformer and a restorer of trust. Outside of politics, one has to wonder if Enron would have collapsed as spectacularly as it did had CEO Ken Lay been more engaged in the day-to-day operations of the company he was supposed to lead, rather than cloistering himself in his office in a manner more suitable to his previous career as an economics professor.

[Yank2133]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

His approval ratings have never dipped below 40% and he was President while the unemployment rate was over 10%. The answer to your question: no. If anything, it's his personality that has made his presidency memorable.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

His approval ratings have never dipped below 40% and he was President while the unemployment rate was over 10%. The answer to your question: no. If anything, it's his personality that has made his presidency memorable.

His public persona is great. Charismatic, cool, lacking drama. The ultimate pragmatic progressive. But what is he like on the inside? How does he deal with the staff, the Senators, the donors, etc. That’s what counts.

[Yank2133]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

[badgate]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

You should finish the book. A passage I just read during Obama's debate prep that seems to pertain to this thread: "Axelrod and Plouffe thought something more radical was in order. For the past six years, they had watched Obama struggle with his disdain for the theatricality of politics-not just the debates, but even the soaring speeches for which he was renowned. Obama's distrust of emotional string-pulling and resistance to the practical necessities of the sound-bite culture: these were elements of his personality that they had accepted, respected, and admired."

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

^^^

This is a man who is uniquely able to cobble together coalitions of remarkably diverse special interest groups to accomplish policy change. Even when he has failed, his political acumen has proven to be impressive: he got the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce to agree on immigration reform. Nancy Pelosi deserves a huge portion of the credit for his first two years in office. The fact that Cap and Trade received votes from industrial Democrats during a recession is really remarkable. Miss u bb, yr in my heart forever Nancy.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

You should finish the book. A passage I just read during Obama's debate prep that seems to pertain to this thread: "Axelrod and Plouffe thought something more radical was in order. For the past six years, they had watched Obama struggle with his disdain for the theatricality of politics-not just the debates, but even the soaring speeches for which he was renowned. Obama's distrust of emotional string-pulling and resistance to the practical necessities of the sound-bite culture: these were elements of his personality that they had accepted, respected, and admired."

Like I said, he hates fighting and politics. He doesn’t want to beat my party so he caves.

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

All of his legislative achievements are paper tigers, spare Iraq and Osama. He compromises on everything. He could have had single payer. He could have had a bigger stimulus. He caves, and my side bashes him anyway. We win every time for a reason. Hillary Clinton wouldn't be taking this.

Obama is not the LBJ of the 21st century. He is the George H.W. Bush with a second term.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

[badgate]

The only Republican Senators willing to get the stimulus passed banded together and refused to break the first in hundreds of obstructionist filibusters unless the stimulus's maximum was set at $800 billion, so no, he could not have gotten a larger stimulus. If you'd like to speak on the stimulus from an informed point of view, I recommend picking up a copy of "The New New Deal."

[Yank2133]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

You should finish the book. A passage I just read during Obama's debate prep that seems to pertain to this thread: "Axelrod and Plouffe thought something more radical was in order. For the past six years, they had watched Obama struggle with his disdain for the theatricality of politics-not just the debates, but even the soaring speeches for which he was renowned. Obama's distrust of emotional string-pulling and resistance to the practical necessities of the sound-bite culture: these were elements of his personality that they had accepted, respected, and admired."

Like I said, he hates fighting and politics. He doesn’t want to beat my party so he caves.

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

All of his legislative achievements are paper tigers, spare Iraq and Osama. He compromises on everything. He could have had single payer. He could have had a bigger stimulus. He caves, and my side bashes him anyway. We win every time for a reason. Hillary Clinton wouldn't be taking this.

Obama is not the LBJ of the 21st century. He is the George H.W. Bush with a second term.

That is a ridiculous criticism.

You can make that same stupid argument for any president. You can bitch about LBJ's Civil Rights Act not going far enough, same for Medicare. The point is Obama was able to get major transformative legislation passed. Who gives a damn if he wasn't able to get what he originally wanted, in politics you rarely do.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

He had both Houses of Congress. He was going to be hit hard in the midterms anyway. Why not go all the way and come back in 2012?

I support single payer over this mandate bs, and the fact that we can't repeal it completely at this point shows how strong single payer could have come.

Admit it: You may like Obama, but he could certainly be better. I think that about Rand Paul all the time.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

You should finish the book. A passage I just read during Obama's debate prep that seems to pertain to this thread: "Axelrod and Plouffe thought something more radical was in order. For the past six years, they had watched Obama struggle with his disdain for the theatricality of politics-not just the debates, but even the soaring speeches for which he was renowned. Obama's distrust of emotional string-pulling and resistance to the practical necessities of the sound-bite culture: these were elements of his personality that they had accepted, respected, and admired."

Like I said, he hates fighting and politics. He doesn’t want to beat my party so he caves.

Obama has gotten more done then any President since LBJ......so I would say no his personality isn't crippling his presidency.

Yeah, lots of watered down pieces of legislation. The impression I am getting in Double Down is that Obama hates the Presidency, and hates elections, but continues onward due to ego. His White House staff was in chaos in 2011, with power struggles against Valerie Jarrett in particular causing a lot of tension.

He got healthcare passed(which no D since Truman has failed to do), got the largest stimulus in US history passed, Wall-Street reform, the auto bailout. There are very few Presidents whom's record are going to be as accomplished as his.

The whole notion that his personality makes him ineffective is nonsense when you actually look at his record.

All of his legislative achievements are paper tigers, spare Iraq and Osama. He compromises on everything. He could have had single payer. He could have had a bigger stimulus. He caves, and my side bashes him anyway. We win every time for a reason. Hillary Clinton wouldn't be taking this.

Obama is not the LBJ of the 21st century. He is the George H.W. Bush with a second term.

That is a ridiculous criticism.

You can make that same stupid argument for any president. You can bitch about LBJ's Civil Rights Act not going far enough, same for Medicare. The point is Obama was able to get major transformative legislation passed. Who gives a damn if he wasn't able to get what he originally wanted, in politics you rarely do.

Johnson got exactly what he wanted. It's not about how far your willing to go, its what exactly do you want. Your missing the point.

[Yank2133]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

He had both Houses of Congress. He was going to be hit hard in the midterms anyway. Why not go all the way and come back in 2012?

I support single payer over this mandate bs, and the fact that we can't repeal it completely at this point shows how strong single payer could have come.

Admit it: You may like Obama, but he could certainly be better. I think that about Rand Paul all the time.

The Democrats never had the votes for a single-payer system.(the blue-dogs would never have gone for it). So Obama did what any good politician would have done, he compromised and got something passed that will help the problem, but also can be built in the future.

Lmao, single-payer! Just look how difficult it was to pass ACA, which is more conservative then Nixon's healthcare plan.

[7,052,770]

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

He had both Houses of Congress. He was going to be hit hard in the midterms anyway. Why not go all the way and come back in 2012?

I support single payer over this mandate BS, and the fact that we can't repeal it completely at this point shows how strong single payer could have come.

Admit it: You may like Obama, but he could certainly be better. I think that about Rand Paul all the time.

The Democrats never had the votes for a single-payer system.(the blue-dogs would never have gone for it). So Obama did what any good politician would have done, he compromised and got something passed that will help the problem, but also can be built in the future.

Lmao, single-payer! Just look how difficult it was to pass ACA, which is more conservative then Nixon's healthcare plan.

Pelosi was one of the strongest Speakers in history. She would have gotten the votes. The ACA is the result of Obama caving, and smelling blood, my party's sharks stormed ahead and tried to stop him completely.

....excuses, excuses....

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

What a reasoned argument. Care to post a tumbler meme while your at it?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

How the f could Obama get single payer? Every special interest group would be running ads 24/7 calling him an invasive communist *insert black pejorative term here* and the bill would be as unpopular as AIDS within two months. Obama could propose any minor healthcare reform and it would polarize the country by the late summer of 2009.

He had both Houses of Congress. He was going to be hit hard in the midterms anyway. Why not go all the way and come back in 2012?

I support single payer over this mandate bs, and the fact that we can't repeal it completely at this point shows how strong single payer could have come.

Admit it: You may like Obama, but he could certainly be better. I think that about Rand Paul all the time.

Of course I think Obama could be better: I wish he never associated with that piece of human trash named Rahm Emanuel and wish he discarded Summers in favor of Christy Roemer. I wish he had the balls to not nominate Ben Bernanke, although I think Bernanke has done a good job. I wish Obama nominated solidly leftist supreme court justices instead of Kaplan and Sotomayor (who are both good but still leave something to be desired). However I have become a strong believer in not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, especially when it comes to the eternally disappointing game of politics.

I suppose when you are virtually waging a war against people who might as well be in UKIP or FPO, you learn to overlook the minor setbacks that occurred long ago. One thing I will not forgive Obama for is his performance in Copenhagen. He failed the world during those days and I'll get to live with the consequences of his languid performance. Climate change is truly a frightful phenomena.

[badgate]

All in all I think ChairmanSanchez's paper is going to be very good now that we've all helped him out

[Oakvale]

Moronic thinkpiece in "is moronic thinkpiece" shock. News in full at 11.

[badgate]

Moronic thinkpiece in "is moronic thinkpiece" shock. News in full at 11.

Tank tops: Patriotic apparel or un-American riff raff?

[7,052,770]

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

What a reasoned argument. Care to post a tumbler meme while your at it?

I'm absolutely incredulous that you think Obama could have ever passed single payer.  Do you just not follow politics at all?  He wouldn't have gotten 40 Senate votes for it, much less 60.  Take the Obamacare backlash and square it, and Congressional support would have fallen even further.  There is simply no way he could have done it, and I can't believe someone would actually say he could have.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He could have had single payer

W.T.F.

What a reasoned argument. Care to post a tumbler meme while your at it?

I'm absolutely incredulous that you think Obama could have ever passed single payer.  Do you just not follow politics at all?  He wouldn't have gotten 40 Senate votes for it, much less 60.  Take the Obamacare backlash and square it, and Congressional support would have fallen even further.  There is simply no way he could have done it, and I can't believe someone would actually say he could have.

Again, you are literally proving my point. It might have been passed if tried to push it through. 2010 would be a big shock, but the Tea Party speaks for itself. Sometimes you need to kamikaze things if you truly want to get them done. Plenty of politicians have done that. Look how Charlie Crist ruined his career-he wanted to be in the Senate, and did what ever he could to get there.

What has Obama been able to do since 2010? Would it really matter if he lost more seats in 2010 then he did already? Its not like things would be easier.

[pbrower2a]

Barack Obama is a master of oratory before large audiences.  He is nowhere near as great an orator under other circumstances. Such made him an adept campaigner. He is no longer in that milieu.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Sanchez, with all due respect, have you completely forgotten the backlash Obama received from members of his own party?  The Blue Dogs bear a lot of blame for the fact that single-payer wasn't passed.  Obama could've literally hit them with a cane and he wouldn't have gotten single-payer.  Now sure, he could have spoke about it more in his speeches, but how far would that have gotten him?  Chances are Obama underestimated the difficulties of getting what you want in this office when he ran.  Okay.  But then you're elected, reality hits, and it's the end of the honeymoon.  How differently do you think Hillary Clinton would have handled this?  More arm-crossing?  A more stern tone of voice?  You can only do so much.