Opinion Barack Obama,action hero
His Afghanistan policy is both brave and considered...
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Many Democrats are nostalgic for Barack Obamas presidential campaign for the passion,the clarity,the bliss-to-be-alive fervour. But,of course,the Obama campaign,like all presidential campaigns,was built on a series of fictions. The first fiction was that government is a contest between truth and error. In reality,government is usually a contest between competing,unequal truths. The second fiction was that to support a policy is to make it happen. In fact,in government power is exercised through other people. It is only by coaxing,prodding and compromise that presidents actually get anything done.
The third fiction was that we can begin the world anew. In fact,all problems and policies have already been worked by a thousand hands and the clay is mostly dry. Presidents are compelled to work with the material they have before them.
The fourth fiction was that leaders know the path ahead. In fact,they have general goals,but the way ahead is pathless and everything is shrouded by uncertainty.
All presidents have to adjust to these realities. The only surprise with President Obama is how enthusiastically he has made the transition.He leads long,analytic discussions,which bring competing arguments to the fore. He sometimes seems to preside over the arguments like a judge settling a lawsuit. His governing style,in short,is biased toward complexity.
This style has never been more evident than in his decision to expand the war in Afghanistan. His decision to expand the war is the most morally consequential one of his presidency so far,yet as the moral stakes rose,Obamas emotional temperature cooled to just above freezing. He spoke in the manner of an unwilling volunteer,balancing the arguments within his administration by leading the country deeper in while pointing the way out.
Despite the ambivalence,he did act. As Andrew Ferguson of The Weekly Standard pointed out,he is the first Democratic president in 40 years to deploy a significant number of troops into a war zone.
Those new troops are not themselves a strategy; they are enablers of an evolving strategy. Over the next year,there will be disasters,errors and surprises as in all wars. But the generals will have more resources with which to cope and respond.
The advantage of the Obama governing style is that his argument-based organisation is a learning organisation. Amid the torrent of memos and evidence and dispute,the Obama administration is able to adjust and respond more quickly than,say,the Bush administration ever did. The disadvantage is the tendency to bureaucratise the war. The danger is that Obamas analytic mode will fail to inspire and comfort.
Barring a scientific breakthrough,we cant merge Obamas analysis with George Bushs passion. But we should still be glad that he is governing the way he is.
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