Obama: I didn’t appreciate how weak the presidency is until I was president
http://www.vox.com/2015/11/17/9749754/obama-presidential-power?ref=yfpOne big thing Barack Obama has learned about being president? The job isn't as powerful as you might expect.
In a new interview with Bill Simmons at GQ, which is well worth reading in full, Obama explains that he "didn't fully appreciate" how "decentralized power is" in the US political system until he took office.
That is, to get anything done, he had to spend a ton of his time trying to persuade other people. Here's what he told Simmons:
Of course, that's right on a great many issues, the president isn't the policy-wonk-in-chief, he's the coalition-builder-in-chief. And without a strong enough coalition, he can't get his way. This is true on issue after issue from gun control to the cap-and-trade bill to immigration reform.
This is a common realization that presidents have after taking office. Indeed, it's so common that political scientist Richard Neustadt wrote a book about it decades ago, in which he made the famous argument that at its heart, "Presidential power is the power to persuade."
Now, Neustadt didn't just mean that the president has to rely only on convincing people with the power of his words. Instead, the president is engaged in a long bargaining give and take with all of those actors Obama listed. The president's position, prominence, and powers provide many advantages in that process. Still, of course, presidents often fail to get their way and even when they do get what they want, they feel like they're working awfully hard at it. Neustadt quotes President Harry Truman complaining:
PROOF OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH THAT OBAMA WAS THE WRONG MAN FOR THE JOB
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)longer have any true power to enact change, going up against an already rigged system seems to be the new normal..
drm604
(16,230 posts)We could argue about whether or not he was the right man for the job, but I don't see this as proof of that. Neustadt says that this is common. If that's true then Obama isn't unique in having the realization after taking office.
I think Americans in general, along with a lot of the rest of the world, see the US Presidency as more powerful than it actually is.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)Where did that come from?
Better check Obama's record then think again.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)That is kinda unfortunate for all of us.
brush
(53,726 posts)not the obstructionists Obama has had to deal with.
And, like someone else posted, Obama got quite a bit done despite the repug obstruction.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)He got 90% of what he wanted with all the persuasive power of a rancid rutabaga.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)but, he was overwhelmed with the job and felt he'd leave that to others. So....after 2010 Mid-terms he didn't have much to support him and after his 2012 Election and the 2014 Midterms there was little to nothing left of the great Progressive Activist movement (largely due to Dean/Kucinich Activists) that made Nancy Pelosi "Madam Speaker" and swept Dems into the House that he did little or nothing to nuture. First it was Tim Kaine and then Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Who does he have to work with? His lack of experience didn't help him. His alignment with advisers from Bush/Cheney and some back to Clinton Deregulation Team were always working against him. Now we will pass on much of that crew to a Hillary Presidency?
That's what happened to "Hope and Change.'
Demeter
(85,373 posts)appalachiablue
(41,102 posts)BlueMTexpat
(15,365 posts)to be sarcasm? If so, you forgot the emoticon.
If it was meant to be serious, you'd better stop smoking whatever it is you are smoking.
So either John McCain or Mitt Romney would have been better than President Obama? Because those were the choices in 2008 and 2012 respectively.
Your takeaway from the article seems to be an outlier.
Darb
(2,807 posts)The only thing wrong with Barack Obama being president was our lack of understanding of how racist the opposition is. The OP fails to connect the dots apparently. Obama has done nothing, proposed not a single idea, zero, zilch, nada, to deserve the complete obstruction that he has faced. It cannot be explained any other way.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)Just look at presidency of George W Bush. He didn't have to worry about persaudinating nur colition bildin. He just did shit.
I had foolishly hoped Obama would be as bold doing good, but he can only be as reckless as Bush when he does Bush-ish things.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)It's all good...Soon DU won't have PBO to kick around much longer...