November 5, 2010
THIS ONE'S WRONG PRETTY MUCH FROM START TO FINISH:
How Obama lost his voice, and how he can get it back: Barack Obama went from being a transformational leader in the campaign to a transactional one as president. It didn't work, and he must reverse course (Marshall Ganz, November 3, 2010, LA Times)
Obama and his team made three crucial choices that undermined the president's transformational mission. First, he abandoned the bully pulpit of moral argument and public education. Next, he chose to lead with a politics of compromise rather than advocacy. And finally, he chose to demobilize the movement that elected him president. By shifting focus from a public ready to drive change — as in "yes we can" — he shifted the focus to himself and attempted to negotiate change from the inside, as in "yes I can."During the presidential campaign, Obama inspired the nation not by delivering a poll-driven message but by telling a story that revealed the person within — within him and within us.
It was precisely because the UR wasn't a transformational figure that he never wielded the bully pulpit--there's nothing he wants to do--was happy to compromise with congressional Democrats on what they wanted to do and ditched his grassroots organization, which did want to do stuff but all stuff his pollsters knew the public wouldn't tolerate.
