resident Obama’s Persistent Strategic Error: Mistaking Inside-the-Beltway Reality for “Real” Reality

http://politics2100.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/politicalreality/

Progressives and others who are concerned about the content of discussion in Washington are now divided on a critical issue:  to what degree should one hold responsible President Obama for errors or failures in the last two years, as well as the strengthening of Republicans after Democrats’ decisive electoral defeats of the GOP in 2006 and 2008?  These divisions depend on how different supporters and former supporters of Obama would answer a number of relevant questions:

1. What would you like to see happen in Washington and in politics more generally?
2. What do you believe is the current and potential power of the American Presidency?  How important is the “bully pulpit” and the President’s influence on popular opinion?
3. How important is “supporting your team” (in the upcoming election) as opposed to holding out for principled policy?
4. Is Obama at heart a progressive or more of a center-right corporatist or neo-liberal (right-wing on economics, left of center on social issues)?   Or is he simply a careerist without strong ideological commitments?
5. Will Obama always concede to his opponents rather than fight?
6. Do major crises in the real world require leaders to overcome their personal inclinations?

Those who tend to have very ambitious hopes for President Obama or feel that the dire situation of the world calls for dramatic and decisive action, are much more inclined to criticize him.  Also those who feel that the Presidential “bully pulpit” is a critical piece of political weaponry feel that he has been a major disappointmentwhile those who feel that the Presidency has limited powers are more appreciative of his performance.  There are some who fear that it will weaken the President if progressives criticize him, pointing out that Republicans band together much better than Democrats.  Others feel that they must continue to point out his shortcomings, in the hope that he changes his policy or his strategy.

My perspective is that Obama and other Democrats need to be held accountable to what I’m calling “real” reality, the economic reality of Main Street, as well as the real physical reality of the earth’s degradation by our own species as home for…our own species.  Obama, as would any President, has had the potential to mobilize the grassroots in favor of his agenda or an agenda that is more favorable to the interests of “Main Street”, but that he has not done so, disempowering himself and the Presidency at a time of justified popular anger.  I believe that severe real world crises force leaders to confront their own personal preferences and limitations; America in 2008 required a new FDR or a President of similar ambition and nerve.  I care about Obama’s “heart of hearts” commitments and personality only insofar as they impact the American people.

I have been trying to locate a way to describe as simply as possible the common thread among Obama’s political mistakes while avoiding making a statement that is a condemnation of his character, his fundamental political principles, or attributes to him a permanent trait that bars improvement in his performance as President.  Given these assumptions that there is no fundamental flaw, I have come up with a formulation that makes sense of many of his major political mistakes so far.