only the dark lord can clear up this mess

Obama's big speech on the oil spill has won him the worst reviews of his presidency from the pundits. Myself, I don't think it's so bad, although it depends on what criteria you're judging it by.

The critics - including normally sympathetic commentators - complain that he said nothing new or significant, and that there was in particular nothing much about the country's unhappy relationship with fossil fuels. They're clearly right about that, and I can understand their annoyance, because the White House seems to have over-promised on that front in the pre-speech spin.

But I get the impression that most Americans aren't in the mood for a discussion of America's long term energy policy. That can come later. Right now, they want the damn hole plugged. Obama's sober outlining of the actions the government is taking may have sounded dull to the pundits - who already know all this stuff - but to most people, who won't have been paying close attention, it will probably be reassuring.

Having said that, I don't think it was a great speech either. When he did get on to the larger issues, he sounded half-hearted and vague. He also looked uncomfortable, not quite as confident as usual. Watching his fiddling hands, my mind went back to something he said during the battle with Hillary Clinton in 2008:

I'm not a (chief) operating officer. Some in this debate around experience seem to think the job of the president is to go in and run some bureaucracy. Well, that's not my job. My job is to set a vision of 'here's where the bureaucracy needs to go'.

He was right. The problem is, he's come up against a crisis that demands someone with a few COO skills - someone who can jump right into that bureaucracy and crank it into urgent action. That requires somebody with an instinctive understanding and feel for the machinery of state; who knows how to close the gap between directive and action; who has an appetite for the minutiae of power.

That's not Obama's bag. So he needs to put a bureaucratic genius in charge - someone who's also a big name. It's time to call on Dick Cheney to do his patriotic duty.

Comments

[Kristen]

This entry made me think back to an episode of Bill Moyers Journal that I saw during the election campaign that I highly recommend watching or reading the transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/profile.html

It has really made me ponder just what we expect of our leaders.I think that I read your blog because it often makes me think about the same things. Anyway, keep it up! Cheers!

Here's the pertinent quote from the transcript found linked on the page above:

BILL MOYERS: I was in the White House, back in the early 60s, and I've been a White House watcher ever since. And I have never come across a more distilled essence of the evolution of the presidency than in just one paragraph in your book.

You say, "Beginning with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960, "the occupant of the White House has become a combination of demigod, father figure and, inevitably, the betrayer of inflated hopes. Pope. Pop star. Scold. Scapegoat. Crisis manager. Commander in Chief. Agenda settler. Moral philosopher. Interpreter of the nation's charisma. Object of veneration. And the butt of jokes. All rolled into one." I would say you nailed the modern presidency.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, and the - I think the troubling part is, because of this preoccupation with, fascination with, the presidency, the President has become what we have instead of genuine politics. Instead of genuine democracy.

We look to the President, to the next President. You know, we know that the current President's a failure and a disappoint - we look to the next President to fix things. And, of course, as long as we have this expectation that the next President is going to fix things then, of course, that lifts all responsibility from me to fix things.

One of the real problems with the imperial presidency, I think, is that it has hollowed out our politics. And, in many respects, has made our democracy a false one. We're going through the motions of a democratic political system. But the fabric of democracy, I think, really has worn very thin.

[Will M]

Well, ish. Isn't this meant to be the Chief of Staff's job? And given Rahm's 'not managed to stop press speculation' about his departure date, maybe Obama should hurry him along?

[Ian Leslie]

Kristen thanks so much for your comments, and the great quote.

Will: it's not the CoS's job to oversee projects like that. Generally - as I understand it - the job is more about managing the president's priorities and the flow of what comes in rather than ensuring the president's directives are enacted on the ground.