TRY LEARNING FROM THE WINNING GENERALS:

Time for Iron Man (E.J. Dionne Jr., June 29, 2009, Washington Post)

Every general studies the mistakes of the last war, and President Obama's style has been much influenced by the difficulties of Bill Clinton's presidency.

In particular, Obama has shied away from handing Congress his own plans on "stone tablets," a phrase much loved by senior adviser David Axelrod, and instead allowed it room to legislate.

The president has won a lot, including a decent stimulus bill and laws on children's health coverage, tobacco regulation and employment discrimination that, in less exciting times, would have been seen as landmarks. But the stimulus bill was neither as good nor as large as it might have been, and Obama is still dealing with the problems created by the legislative train wreck over his Guantanamo policies.

And then there's his centerpiece campaign to reform the health-care system.

Obama's initial approach of laying out principles and giving Congress latitude was the right response to Clinton's mistake of offering a detailed proposal, only to see it mocked and rejected.

Except that Bill Clinton didn't fight the last wars, W did. And W ran on and offered Congress extremely detailed plans, but then didn't get his knickers in a twist over the compromises need to pass them. Sometimes he couldn't even pass anything, like on SS reform. But there was never any doubt who the leader was and folks were forced to adjust to his ideas.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 29, 2009 11:49 AM