The Obama Presidency After One Year

Every time President Obama speaks about an issue he plans to tackle, he invariably mentions that it will not be easy to achieve success. Perhaps unwittingly he has accurately described his first year in office. Clearly, nothing has been easy. The question arises as to what if anything has gone wrong, and what hope, if any, there may be for the future.

What is perhaps most striking is the current reaction to issues that Obama ran on that were supported by a significant majority of Americans. It is almost hard to remember that among the more popular issues of the campaign were closing Guantanamo, focusing on the war in Afghanistan, and Health Care. Did Obama botch these once popular issues, have conditions in the country changed, or are there other forces at work that have created so much contention on once popular goals?

That famous vast right wing conspiracy comes to mind. Initially there were a few weeks of comity with this White House. There were bipartisan meetings with the President. There was talk of working together to solve a variety of problems. Then almost on cue there was not a single Republican who could find anything good to say about what the President was trying to do. I must say that it is impossible to believe that every Republican Senator and Congressman believe exactly the same things, yet there was suddenly no deviation from a rigid set of talking points. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never seen a gathering of two or more people where everyone agreed on anything. Democrats have certainly run the gamut of the political spectrum on their views in this congress thus far. Can Republicans be that uniform or are they the victim of some sort of mind control. Frankly, the one thing that Republicans apparently did agree on is that it was in their political interest to 'just say no', and they have.

The partisanship seemed to start with the venerable Rush Limbaugh insisting that he wanted this president to fail. Which Congressman was it who said if we can defeat the president on health care it will be his Waterloo? The first order of business, the stimulus package, garnered no House Republicans and two Republican senators. One of these senators, Arlen Spector, saw the handwriting on the wall in terms of the intended Republican strategy. He switched parties because he was so uncomfortable with where his party was headed.

Just a word on the stimulus bill. It clearly could have been better. It has not been as effective as it might have been. For example, I think most would agree that more infrastructure spending would have improved the bill. Yet, despite the naysayers, it has also clearly worked. Together with Federal Reserve policies, it has brought us back from the brink of depression, the economy is actually rumbling along pretty well at this point, and there are signs that job creation may not be far behind. Frankly the evidence is that Republicans were just wrong on this issue, but facts don't seem to be their concern.

As for the war in Afghanistan conditions have changed. We are experiencing more casualties and it is now clear that this is going to be a far more difficult endeavor than many originally believed. Interestingly, this is the one area where there is at least some Republican support. The verdict on where this war is going is still a long way from certain. As for health care we have been inflicted with everything from death panels to the oft repeated maxim that the government is engineering a takeover of the health care system. The truth plays little role in the debate. What is most amazing is that while there are legitimate reasons to be critical of this health care bill, the real issues are not what are being discussed. Why worry about facts when misinformation seems to be pretty effective in derailing health care.

Lest this turn into an entirely partisan column a few words need to be said about the administration's failures in this first year. Clearly the administration has lost control of the message. First of all, the president needs more heavy hitters out promoting his positions. At times he has seemed to be the only person defending the work of his administration. He also needs to do a better job of explaining in simple terms why he is doing what he's doing. The president does a great job with the big picture and inspirational language and vision, but in trying to explain to dare I say 'Joe the Plumber' why a particular initiative would be good for him, I don't think the president has been able to make the sell. Nobody was better at explaining complicated issues in a way that made sense to the rest of us than Bill Clinton. Also, while Republican discipline and lock step posturing has in my mind been disturbing at best, Democrats have self destructed by not being able to move forward on any issue. The unseemly horse trading on health care has done nothing to further their aims. Even Bill Clinton produced greater party unity during the first year of his administration. If the Democrats cannot work together to get health care passed at the beginning of this administration maybe they really are not capable of governing.

What will year number two be like? Better. Health care will pass soon. It will be far from perfect, but it will move the ball forward dramatically. The Democratic Congress will finally have a major accomplishment and even those who don't like it will recognize that something significant has occurred. The economy will continue to improve, and the unemployment rate will begin to go down, albeit slowly. People will feel better about where they are going and consumer confidence will improve. The most important factor, results and success, will finally move the president's ratings in a positive direction. The November elections may not benefit from this improvement since the changes may not come soon enough. However, congressional gains by Republicans may be at least minimized, and the changes will give this president a second chance to be a successful president and to earn a second term.

The one caveat is the foreign policy area. Conditions are difficult around the globe right now, and will remain unpredictable well into the future. Republicans are unfairly attacking the president as being weak. The former vice president is shameless in his ongoing critiques. I believe, however, if the president demonstrates a firm hand in dealing with issues as they arise, and shows some results perhaps with North Korea and even Iran some of the criticism will recede and an awareness will grow that one can be firm and unyielding and at the same time be willing to negotiate and explore non military options. No one said it better than John Kennedy, "We shall never negotiate out of fear, but we shall never fear to negotiate."