The Biggest Loser

The great majority of my friends – both in real life and on social media – vote Democratic.  In the wake of the midterm elections – which went so badly for Democratic candidates – most of these folks are looking for someone to blame.

Many blame the unlimited availability of money – much of it supplied by organizations which need not report their sources – to flood the media with attack ads and other nonsense.   I share their indignation.

Many blame the voters – especially young and non-white voters – who stayed away by the millions, allowing a minority of older and middle-aged whites to control dozens of closely contested elections.  I understand their concern, while admitting that I had to drag myself to the polls this year.

Many blame institutional purveyors of mendacity, such as Fox News and the AM talk jocks, who have done so much to lower the political IQ of the nation over the past twenty years.  Again, I share their indignation, but I don’t think a majority of the nation can be blamed because a minority chooses to self-propagandize – if not self-lobotomize – by listening to non-stop nonsense.

But for all the blame-throwing, few of my Democratic-leaning friends have begun to admit what has been, up until now, unspeakable.  The one person most responsible for the Democrats’ defeat is the man who had the most to lose – President Barack Obama.

Six years ago, many in this country – and seemingly everyone overseas – hailed Mr. Obama’s election as the dawn of a new era.  It was hardly that, though the President started off fairly well.

After all, the American economy was trembling on the brink of a second Great Depression – brought about by years of deregulation under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

The reasons for this crisis are too complicated for most of us to understand – involving, as they do, new kinds of theft made possible by the migration to Wall Street of hundreds of highly-trained mathematicians for whom our society seems to have no better use. 

But it’s not so complicated that most of us can’t grasp this fact:  The outgoing Republican President, George W. Bush, and his incoming Democratic successor, Mr. Obama, managed to coordinate their efforts in order to avert the worst. 

I have little doubt that future generations of historians will rank Mr. Bush far down the list of American presidents, but his efforts in those final months probably saved him from reaching the abyss inhabited by James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren G. Harding.

Similarly, no matter how badly things go in the next two years, Mr. Obama’s role in salvaging the economy will almost certainly keep him out of the historical basement. 

But not, perhaps, by much.

Mr. Obama’s problem is that he never figured out how to leverage the incredible potential of his office.  Never having actually run anything – other than the Harvard Law Review – he has consistently demonstrated an incomprehension regarding the uses of power.

On the one hand, Mr. Obama has over-estimated his ability to make things happen simply by expressing his opinion.  True to his law review background, he has never hesitated to editorialize about situations at home or overseas. 

Now, because he is president, his words have always gained immediate, global circulation.  The problem is that a presidential editorial is news for twenty-four hours.  If the president then shifts his attention to some other issue, instead of hammering away at one, important point, his words – however well-written and well-spoken – quickly fade away.    

A president of the United States can – absolutely – focus the attention of the world on almost anything he chooses.  But unless he stays on that issue – preaching, explaining, educating, mobilizing and motivating – he will not realize the true power of the “bully pulpit”.

And this is the curious thing about Mr. Obama.  A President’s single, greatest power is his ability to educate the American people to the existence of a problem, set forth the solution he proposes – and rally millions to his support.

Yet, for all his gifts as a public speaker – for all his background as a college teacher – this President has been an abysmal failure as America’s educator-in-chief.  Time and again, he has opened a new policy initiative with a brilliant speech – only to move immediately behind closed doors, seeking to formulate a compromise with people who have no desire to meet him halfway.

Where Lincoln, TR, FDR, Truman, JFK, Reagan – or many presidents of lesser historical stature – would have rallied public support sufficient to compel their opponents to deal, Mr. Obama has allowed his opponents to dominate the political debate for his entire term.

He has, simply stated, failed to make the case for any of his policies – in most cases, leaving the floor to his opponents, who have not hesitated to make the most of their opportunities.

Thus, this gifted communicator has lost control of both houses of Congress, lost the initiative for rest of his term – and probably lost his chance at an honored place in history.