Why The President Is So Calm

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Much as I agree with your assessment (and I do), there's a huge part of this puzzle that's been left unstated. One of the worst, most corrosive clichés around is that of the "angry black man". He has spent his life developing a moderating, thoughtful, calming persona and it's been his public face for years in an effort to not appear like the cliché.

I'm sure that it's very important that he not appear like the "angry black man." But I can't believe this is something that he's entirely cultivated. It seems part of his very marrow. It doesn't allow the observer to get much sense of connection with him.
Which is strange ... because I wasn't saying that during the campaign. In fact, iirc, virtually no one was. It was like some didn't like him, while others felt he lifted them up to a higher level where he sat naturally, the levitation seeming to be his charismatic gift to the people.
You either got him or you didn't. But hardly anyone was calling him wooden or flat.
But now it just seems like a gear is missing ... much though there's an awful lot about him that seems very, very right.

Personally, I find it reassuring; he seems like the only adult in the room wherever he goes.

That's fine until it turns. And then it grows old real fast.
I think that's happened.

(I don't want to exaggerate this, though. He's not doing all that badly. Reagan and Clinton, as I'm sure you know, were both doing worse at this point in their presidencies than Obama, in terms of public support. On the other hand, they were a lot easier to identify with and like. They seemed to have greater inherent capacity to rebound.)

But many, including columnist Maureen Dowd, have written at length about his frosty, Spock-like demeanor. It's really two interpretations of the same image. Biden was supposed to "folksy" things up, and to the extent that he's anything other than a punchline, he at least does that well.

It's funny. To a Canadian, across the border, Biden has just disappeared. Or maybe this just reflects my ever increasing disaffection with all matters political.

I'm still a fan of Obama, but there is a maddeningly constant disconnect between the man and his emotions: it's like expecting JFK and ending up with Calvin Coolidge

He's got a bit of overlap with JFK, imo. But JFK was a gorgeous melange of head, gut ... and I suppose pelvis.
There was an animal there, alongside the dispassionate mind and the cool demeanor.
Much more to identify with.
(We're on the same page here, buddy.)

If the economy comes back enough by 2012, his cool will seem reasonable and presidential; if it tanks further or we're still floundering, there's a real risk of some hyper-emotional Populist making him look unconcerned, isolated, aloof and disconnected.

I really think it's possible that, with a rebounding economy, he'll squeak back into power.
But otherwise, some Pupulist maght jus sweep his sweet ass aside.
I think we're going to be surprised at how much Obama will actually manage to do in the next two years.
The question is, Will people like him enough to care or let that fact register?

He is, by far, the most opaque politician I've ever experienced.

Yup. A superb political novel could be written about him as the gifted, too pure protagonist who might be the president that one needs but not the president that one wants. (I am pretending to be a Merkun, and I hope you can forgive that, Bbucko.)
In real life, unfortunately, the situation is not so beguiling.

 

[B_RedDude]

During his presidency I have begun to think that the reason his first instinct seems to be conciliatory (some people call this spineless) might be a reflection of his need, when growing up, to reconcile his dual racial heritage.

I'm sure that it's very important that he not appear like the "angry black man." But I can't believe this is something that he's entirely cultivated. It seems part of his very marrow. It doesn't allow the observer to get much sense of connection with him.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

During his presidency I have begun to think that the reason his first instinct seems to be conciliatory (some people call this spineless) might be a reflection of his need, when growing up, to reconcile his dual racial heritage.

Interesting. Could be.
I don't think we'll ever have more than theories.
I wonder if his books give any clue.
(I haven't read anything by him at all, except excerpts.)

 

[dandelion]

He is, by far, the most opaque politician I've ever experienced.

You think you really know what any politician stands for? It sounds as though obama is projecting blank while most are projecting something more specific. This does not mean it is any more real.

1. he is a politician (therfore a con artist)
2. fear (for his job/career)

Guaranteed job for 2 more years, then option of 4 more years or lifetime pension plan with skyrocketing appearance fees?

It's funny. To a Canadian, across the border, Biden has just disappeared. Or maybe this just reflects my ever increasing disaffection with all matters political.

Who's Biden? Seriously: never heard of him, or if I did it went straight past. I infer he is the vice president.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Who's Biden? Seriously: never heard of him, or if I did it went straight past. I infer he is the vice president.

Bingo.

 

[DevonTexas]

that or he's insulant, smug, and removed from actual reality

 

[Bbucko]

I'm sure that it's very important that he not appear like the "angry black man." But I can't believe this is something that he's entirely cultivated. It seems part of his very marrow. It doesn't allow the observer to get much sense of connection with him.
Which is strange ... because I wasn't saying that during the campaign. In fact, iirc, virtually no one was. It was like some didn't like him, while others felt he lifted them up to a higher level where he sat naturally, the levitation seeming to be his charismatic gift to the people.
You either got him or you didn't. But hardly anyone was calling him wooden or flat.
But now it just seems like a gear is missing ... much though there's an awful lot about him that seems very, very right.

I think a great deal of the charisma you (and I) felt came from several excellently written and delivered speeches, like his one on race following the whole Rev Wright debacle (which really would have sunk anyone else less gifted).

It is exceptionally odd that anyone with an ego big enough to be elected POTUS seems so "not-there". I never considered him especially shy, but there seem to be virtually no candid shots of him just hangin': he's all work, no play (and golf doesn't count). Where are the shots of him shooting hoops?

The people who helped him get elected (and who branded him so convincingly to so many people) are doing a really, really shitty job of managing the 24-hour news cycle. They seem clueless about messaging when a successful presidency is all about controlling the message. He needs some aggressive PR, pronto.

(I don't want to exaggerate this, though. He's not doing all that badly. Reagan and Clinton, as I'm sure you know, were both doing worse at this point in their presidencies than Obama, in terms of public support. On the other hand, they were a lot easier to identify with and like. They seemed to have greater inherent capacity to rebound.)

I really think it's possible that, with a rebounding economy, he'll squeak back into power.
But otherwise, some Pupulist maght jus sweep his sweet ass aside.
I think we're going to be surprised at how much Obama will actually manage to do in the next two years.
The question is, Will people like him enough to care or let that fact register?

No one expected anything folksy or affable about him (that's one gift that's eluded him entirely): Clinton always had it, and Reagan's PR/Hollywood whizzes invented it (remember those pathetic jelly beans?). In this regard, Michelle isn't doing him any favors, and her mother seems to have evaporated entirely.

GW Bush had it: I'll credit him with that. Personally, I found it contrived and as fake as a 10-carat cubic zirconium, but enough of "the heartland" bought it to get him elected twice.

Democrats (Clinton being the exception that proves the rule) have had a real problem with charisma ever since RFK was killed. Think of it: for the last 40 years, Democratic presidential candidates have been stale, droning, eat-you-peas intellectual scolds (Kerry being, perhaps, the worst of the group, with extra props to Gore). Obama was seen as an intellectual, but not cut from the same cloth as Adlai Stevenson, so they gave him a shot.

And, you're right: as of this minute, 2012 is a Republican's to lose. Too bad for them that there's no obvious, plausible, experienced candidate of any stature or gravitas (at least not yet). Any contender will naturally be up against the most powerful man in the world. The office carries intense and undeniable prestige. It took someone with the charisma of Clinton or Reagan combined with the pathetic presidencies of Carter and GHW Bush to upend a sitting president.

It's funny. To a Canadian, across the border, Biden has just disappeared. Or maybe this just reflects my ever increasing disaffection with all matters political.

98% of the time, Biden fulfills the standard requirement of VP by being a "warm bucket of piss", but they do let him out now and then. He usually expresses opinions and emotions that you just know reflect what the White House thinks but, for whatever reason, won't come right out and say itself.

But for all his populist folksiness, he's never really made any connection with the broader public, who, again, see him as a gaffe-generating punchline. I find speculation of his not being considered for a second term surprising and odd, especially with Hillary as an alternative

Yup. A superb political novel could be written about him as the gifted, too pure protagonist who might be the president that one needs but not the president that one wants. (I am pretending to be a Merkun, and I hope you can forgive that, Bbucko.)
In real life, unfortunately, the situation is not so beguiling.

You're always forgiven, Hhuckles: sounds like a great book. Happen to know any decent writers?

 

[Bbucko]

You think you really know what any politician stands for? It sounds as though obama is projecting blank while most are projecting something more specific. This does not mean it is any more real.

I'm not so naive that I don't know that any national-level politician's positions are structured to polls and opinion surveys. However, American have a very peculiar expectation of "authenticity", no matter how manufactured (note quotation marks) it actually is. Maybe GW Bush actually hated clearing scrub at his ranch (you'll notice he's in a suburban gated community now), but it made him "amiable" to millions. Much was made of the fact that he was someone you'd want to drink a beer with (though I'd have taken a pass).

But I will say that Dick Cheney really is as malevolent as he projects: the man is unreconstructed evil.

 

[b.c.]

I don't think it has anything to do with either "fear" or "smugness" or any of the other more "base" generalizations offered here, though Hhuck and Bbucko offer quite insightful speculation as to what moves the man.

I think in the face of the kind of election results that we've had on Election Tuesday, especially in the wake of a lot of legislation and effort on behalf of the people, Obama must have gone through some degree of introspection if not outright wonderment as to how the election could have turned out this way.

Maher in his show following the election pretty much summed up the question: How could America send to Washington the very same people who've been sabotaging Obama's every effort to help THEM??

Nevertheless, he is still the President, and as such has to respond to these developments in "presidential" fashion. What was he to do? Cry? (I think someone did).

For his part, his reaction seemed quite diplomatic if not outright conciliatory. Frankly I would have preferred something like, "Well, since they stonewalled everything WE tried, let the f**kers do better now."

That would have been more gratifying to his supporters at least (would've let us know he's alive at least, eh?) But seriously, we can take that kind of position. The President can't. The President has to put pride, ego, and all of that behind him and consider the needs of the nation first.

Besides which, maybe he knows something we don't: that all that s**t that the "New Regime" says it's going to do.... is a whole lot easier said than done.

 

[B_RedDude]

Obama was seen as an intellectual, but not cut from the same cloth as Adlai Stevenson, so they gave him a shot.

I like Barack's voice much better than I liked Adlai's (which I've only heard on recordings). And I'm not talking about the expression of their muses.

Actually, the President seemed to get back his old glory when speaking after his meetings with the Prime Minister of India on Monday or Tuesday.
He seemed very charismatic in that environment.

 

[lurker37160]

He's calm because he was shocked and awed last Tuesday night.

 

[catman]

The Republicans have been in office over a week- where are all the new jobs? I mean its been a week (they gave Obama...what 6 months to end the recession?)

 

[DevonTexas]

The Republicans have been in office over a week- where are all the new jobs? I mean its been a week (they gave Obama...what 6 months to end the recession?)

no, actually, almost 2 years. He's made bad choices during those months. I voted for him, I just no longer support him.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

The Republicans have been in office over a week- where are all the new jobs? I mean its been a week (they gave Obama...what 6 months to end the recession?)

To be fair... the shift in power in the House doesn't happen for another 6 weeks. But once the new Congress is in place, then we can start with the "where's the job" rhetoric. :biggrin1:

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

They could not foresee the need for a more active government, or even the origination of the party system for that matter, or they might have given us a ministerial system in which the government, after the party system had begun, could not be divided politically.

Does ministerial system = parliamentary system?

 

[B_RedDude]

Yes, and I should have used the common term.

I guess I was thinking of prime ministers v. presidents and that's what my middle-aged mind came up with.:wink:

Thanks for clarifying that for everyone, Hhuck.

Does ministerial system = parliamentary system?

 

[Northland]

Because he's a robot, that's why he's calm.