Obama Takes the Long View in Times of Crisis

[steven johnson]

During the campaign for President in 2008, Barack Obama's basic rule was: No Drama. He avoided personality based feuds and mind games. Apparently he is still trying for pragmatism, keeping your eye on the prize. Obama has his team: Axelrod, Emmanuel and Jarret. It appears he will win or lose with that team and his original style.

He tries to find any natural alliance with potential adversaries. If he cannot, he tries to disarm them with frankness. If not, he avoids rhetorical excesses and moves on.

He's not about petty feuds: You can scalp a man once but you can cut his hair a thousand times.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just back from a recent day trip to Georgia, President Barack Obama walked into the Oval Office and told his senior staff to get a grip.

It was classic Obama, again summoning one of his favorite tenets in a crisis: the Long View.

But for Obama, it's been a crucial prescription he reaches for when times get tough, whether during his come-from-behind White House bid, the recent imbroglio over chief of staff Rahm Emanuel or policy setbacks in his often embattled presidency. Now, with the fate of his health care overhaul likely to be known by the end of this week or soon after, the outcome -- either way -- will test his loyalty to the long view as much as anything that has come before.

With each such misfortune, Obama rolls out a familiar pep talk. ''If you allow the inside baseball of Washington to distract you, then you're not focusing on the goal,'' Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to Obama in the White House and a longtime friend, recounted in an interview. ''He has no patience for gossip. He has no patience for drama.''

Obama Takes the Long View in Times of Crisis

[Jennicut]

1. Many people want to have petty feuds.

Obama seems not to care for them.

[HughMoran]

2. Above the fray

If he did get down in the mud, he'd be criticized for that too - and it would be a lot more damaging for him as a leader as well. I like his style - it's different than some might have expected, but it's effective - especially in these times where destroying your opponent by sucking them into the quicksand is a sport.

[Cha]

4. Right.."sucking them into the quicksand"

with you.

[FrenchieCat]

3. See that's leadership for me....

something we haven't seen in so long,
we have forgotten what it actually looks like,
so we had made up our own definitions.

[Prism]

5. Pushing Health-Care Reform back a generation or two is certainly "the long view"

A very, crazy, unforgivable long view.

You know, it's funny. The other day I was glancing through various speeches by the President. I came across his HCR speech where he said "I am not the first president to take up this cause - but I am determined to be the last."

Given all that has passed since that statement, it strikes me as one of the greatest outright howlers of his presidency.

[treestar]

6. This is what I like about him

Not getting distracted by the shiny new object.