Rough Start

The Obama Presidency has suffered a rough start in its opening fortnight, largely because it has cannibalized itself through self-generated hype and astronomical expectations that mere mortals could not possibly achieve. To aggravate matters, they have deliberately set-aside or betrayed those standards right out of the gate to an appalling degree, as the events of the day demonstrate. They promised to be the most ethical and transparent administration in history yet waived their ethical regulations – explicitly or implicitly – for a host of administration officials and nominees when they got in the way. Instead of the most ethical administration in history Americans have witnessed one which has installed high ethics standards only to cast them away with the flick of a wrist when they become inconvenient. Some "change we can believe in."

Also promised was a new Washington and an age of post-partisanship, which quickly met the same fate as the new ethics and transparency. The problem which they haven't been able to run away from any longer is that President Obama has always talked of bi-partisanship but never really practiced it. In the first major initiative of his presidency he reached out to pat Congressional Republicans on the forehead only to offer them a nakedly partisan bill full of Democratic pet-spending. The gesture was pleasant but it didn't actually change anything, i.e. make the bill any less partisan after the meeting than it was before.

Beyond the unfulfilled standards and expectations, the administration has also shown an early tendency to act clumsily and overly-passive at times. They foolishly allowed the partisan dogs of the Democratic Congress to write the "stimulus" bill, receiving in return a political headache that provided Republicans an easy means of principled opposition. And, worst of all for the President, it is the gift that keeps on giving: as each day passes the package appears less and less palatable. Despite this there has been little visible effort from the President to improve it. During the transition period he laid out clear guiding principles for a stimulus (timely, targeted, and temporary) but has done little to enforce them. He simply isn't control of the issue, despite the fact that he is at the zenith of his popularity and influence (or at least should be).

This fecklessness is all the more astounding when you consider the frame of mind the President revealed when he declared, "I won" on his second day in office. For all of the assertiveness and command this forceful statement conveyed he sure hasn't lived up to it. He did win and he is the man in charge, but from all appearances he has failed throw his political weight into the issue and forge a stimulus that isn't ripe for ridicule. Instead he's permitting his counterparts in Congress to make a mess that will eventually extend all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue, making him the owner of a stinking pile of refuse. His administration's one positive action to prevent this has apparently been to encourage disenchanted Democrats in Congress to go after their leadership, summoning others to do what they should be doing themselves. That kind of helplessness isn't worthy of a President who confidently replied, "I won." It's worthy of a lame duck, which we were supposed to have been rid of on the twentieth of last month.

Of course no observant person should really be surprised at the President's inauspicious start. His previous government experience was negligible, his executive experience non-existent. His personality and demeanor were always conspicuously passive. Throughout the campaign he demonstrated an unyielding reticence to make firm commitments, preferring instead promises to consider, review, and discuss issues. What's more, he and his supporting structure demonstrated little command of the governing and decision-making skills relevant to the unique demands of the Presidency. (Their talent was in marketing to America's youth culture and independents who simply wanted a Democrat who met the minimum of standards.) As Peter Wehner writes, "so much of his appeal has been aesthetic, theatrical, and tonal, based on creating a particular mood and impression. Obama's appeal was not, and never has been, grounded in anything solid, philosophical, or permanent."

The Obama team did little to hide the fact that they planned to govern as they campaigned, which you simply cannot do. A campaign is a practice in potentialities and hypotheticals, and is relatively brief and transient. Governing is a different animal, entirely a practice in coordinating and moving unwieldy and disparate parts in desired directions over a relatively extended period of time. The President and his administration will inevitably learn and improve going forward, but it has been made abundantly clear that they didn't understand this and so were woefully unprepared to do it when the time came. They better figure it out soon.