* Obama’s path of compromise … there’s no other way

THE ECONOMIST reports (7/4/09) …

• Having campaigned in poetry, Barack Obama doubtless expected to govern in prose. But it is arithmetic that threatens to cramp his ambitions.
• Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its long-term budget outlook. If current policies are continued, federal debt held by the public will rise from 41% of GDP at the end of 2008 to 87% by 2020, and (theoretically) to a staggering 716% by 2080.
• A president who refused to put off unpleasant decisions, as Mr Obama promised during his inauguration, would be honest about all this.
• Instead of straight talk, however, Mr Obama has mostly been offering happy talk.
• … rather than shaping public opinion, he is running scared of it. And so, even more, is Congress.
• The House’s climate bill is a masterpiece of obfuscation.
• Mr Obama wanted the (carbon emission) permits to be auctioned, which would raise large sums (which were meant to help finance health-care reform) and allocate the permits to the firms that value them most. Instead, the House decided to give away 85% of them free to politically-favoured entities.
• Some say this was necessary—the bill only passed by a whisker, 219 votes to 212, and would probably have failed without the giveaways.
• Mr Obama needs to find at least $1 trillion to overhaul health care, and those plans now face an uphill battle of their own in the Senate, which looks set for a long hard summer.
• Mr Obama promised, on the campaign trail, not to tax private health benefits. He also promised to cut taxes for all but the rich. Arithmetic suggests he will have to break his word on something.

Read the entire article at … http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13952934

LMW COMMENT …

The Economist has framed Obama’s dilemma well, although I would not be so critical. It’s one thing to sit on the side and compare what is actually accomplished with some theoretical possible achievement.

But where is the proper balance between sticking with what you wanted to do, indeed promised to do, and the necessary compromise to get anything done in the real political world? Is Barack Obama doing everything he could do, or is he giving up too much to accomplish what is possible?

How we answer those questions is likely to depend on which issues are important to us, and what is happening with those particular issues at the moment. But the President does not have the luxury of dealing with each issue in isolation. I am confident that Obama’s objectives have not changed. I also believe he is not surprised by the need to accommodate the wishes and needs of other powerful people.

Obama has a powerful team of his own, but I bet there are some days when Rahm Emanuel tells the President how much he can get on a particular issue while keeping alive progress on the full range of an ambitious agenda where many items are critical to the future of our country and the world.

I’m confident that Barack Obama is making the best decisions he can, and I believe his record at the end of the day will be superb. He’s not perfect, but in my view, no one else could do it better.

* it’s time for the Obama administration to demonstrate its management skills

 Michael Hirsh writes in Newsweek (4/10/09) …

• Not long ago (March 23), a group of skeptical Democratic senators met at the White House with President Obama, his chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
• The six senators said the financial reform policies the president was pursuing were not going far enough, and the people Obama was choosing as his regulators were not going to change things fundamentally enough.
• While it clearly wants to install serious supervision, the Obama administration—along with other key authorities like the New York Fed—appears willing to stand back while Wall Street resurrects much of the ultracomplex global trading system that helped lead to the worst financial collapse since the Depression.
• A newly assertive Wall Street emerged recently; its goal: to stand against heavy regulation of “over-the-counter” derivatives … even as we are still picking up the debris, we seem to be ready to embrace that world once again.

LMW COMMENT … As hard as it is to deal with big issues in the glare of public crisis, the real test of President Obama’s governance will come in the relative quiet of sustained deliberation and management. Will Obama shine here as he has in the limelight? Will his management skills prove the equal of his obvious political skills? Management is harder and less dramatic than politics, but in the long run it is far more important. American voters have rarely valued management skills, at any level of government. Maybe it’s time we did.

 

Read the entire article at … http://www.newsweek.com/id/193360

 

* Obama’s audacious governance has just begun

E.J. Dionne writes in the Washington Post (2/25/09) …

• President Obama’s message to the nation Tuesday night was plain and unequivocal: The era of bashing government is over.
• So, too, is the folklore of a marketplace capable of producing abundance without regulation, government oversight or public intervention.
• Obama’s rhetoric is soothing and his approach is inclusive. But he is proposing nothing less than an ideological transformation.
• Tuesday night’s speech was the most comprehensive manifesto he has offered yet for his new rendezvous with America’s progressive tradition. 
• If he is right, he will also have rebuilt American liberalism.

LMW COMMENT …

I think it’s misleading to cast President Obama’s philosophy and initiatives in the traditional liberal-conservative framework. What we are seeing is something entirely new, based on pragmatism and solving problems, not ideology. How refreshing! 

Obama’s goal of reducing the deficit by 50% by the end of his first term is breathtaking. Pay close attention to how he proposed to do it.

• 1. End the war in Iraq;
• 2. End the obscene Bush tax cuts for the rich when they expire next year;
• 3. Reform health care to save huge wasteful expenditures that do not produce good health.

So far, so good. But it’s number 4 that got my attention:

• 4. eliminate government programs that don’t work.

In this last endeavor, the President will take on ALL politicians, Democrats as well as Republicans, as everything he proposes to eliminate will be somebody’s favorite program (… think the movie Dave, and remember Charles Grodin drawing lines through budget items).

If Obama can pull this off, he will reverse the sloppy unmanaged approach to government that has afflicted all administrations and Congresses for decades. He will only succeed if he keeps the support of the voters. I think he has a chance.

Now that’s real change!

Read the entire column at … http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/24/AR2009022403350.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

 

* great expectations

Peter Baker writes in the NYT …

• Mr. Obama arrives at the presidency Tuesday after a transition that betrayed no hint of nervousness
• seemingly undaunted by the magnitude of troubles awaiting him and unbothered by the few setbacks 
• He remains hard to read or label — centrist in his appointments and bipartisan in his style, yet also pushing the broadest expansion of government in generations. 
• He has reached across old boundaries to build the foundation of an administration that will be charged with hauling the country out of crisis, but for all the outreach he has made it clear he is centralizing policy making in the White House.
• Mr. Obama is not shy about making decisions and making them expeditiously 
• He has set out ideas for governance even before taking office, but he has also adapted the details as conditions changed.
• Mr. Obama has taken a place in society that extends beyond political leadership. He is as much symbol as substance, an icon for the young and a sign of deliverance for an older generation
• Mr. Obama has built a broader base of public support than many incoming presidents. 

LMW COMMENT … We are witnessing something unique in American politics, broad ranging intellectual and political talents combined with audacious objectives. The country is optimistic, poised for Obama’s success, yet patient (for now), knowing that change cannot come overnight. I think we can anticipate more good surprises from this remarkable man we have chosen to be our leader.

Read the entire article at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20transition.html?_r=1&hp