Richard Cohen observes:
The unsurprising moderation of Barack Obama has caught many people by surprise. At this point, he seems intent on restoring a version of the old Clinton presidency — Hillary Clinton running foreign policy, Robert Rubin’s ensemble running the economy, Bill Richardson at Commerce and nary a certified cut ‘n’ runner on Iraq anywhere in sight. The erstwhile “change” candidate seems intent on vindicating that old French expression: The more things change, the more they remain the same.
And yes, we can now all agree that “the narcissism of small differences” accounted for much of the bitterness of the primary campaign. ( Well, that and the fact they were battling for the presidency.) But Cohen goes awry when he declares:
Obama’s campaign showed us a candidate of maximum cool. He has always remained ironically detached, and that has served him — and now us — very well indeed. It’s now clear that he will not govern from the left and not really from the center but, as his campaign suggested, from above it all.
Good luck with that! Presidents are not professors or political pundits. They are deciders, managers, doers, and persuaders. You can be cool or cold or emotionally remote, but you can’t be “above it” and govern–at least not well. The result, if Obama tries to govern from above it all, will be government run by disparate, conflicting and grasping personalities below the President. Or, alternatively, a pablum of compromise (We’ll give the auto companies half a bailout) that satisfies no one and solves nothing. It’s a tough business, being President. There is no way to be “above it all.”
It is worth pondering why pundits suddenly have a fascination with and admiration for a remote President. Didn’t they lambaste President Bush for being remote? Didn’t they gleefully explore the constant unresolved conflicts between State and Defense which caused paralysis in national security policy? I suspect they once again are simply spinning for their favorite President-elect. Observing his lack of emotional verve and his academic bent, they now must celebrate those qualites, as they do every aspect of the President-elect’s persona. It is not that operating style itself which is to be revered, but Him. Therefore they must strain and explain why remoteness is now such a positive quality in a Chief Executive.
We will see how long the Distant Presidency lasts. If it doesn’t, and Obama morphs into the Micromanaging President or the Tough Ideologue President, I’m sure the pundit class will applaud that as well. It is all and always for the best, where Barack Obama is involved.
