Governing in prose: President Obama’s considered approach to crisis

By Sarah MacKinlay

He fluffs his lines, swats flies and wins the Nobel Peace Prize, an ordinary man with an extraordinary life. This time last year I along with the rest of the world sat and watched Barack Obama’s inauguration with my favourite Tory Iain Dale and my old friend from Total Politics Shane Greer. We were all left feeling that the inauguration speech was a bit lacklustre, but I thought at the time he was probably managing expectations after all, the banking crisis was in full swing, Guantanamo was under ever greater scrutiny, as was the war in Afghanistan.

He is not a superhero, and never played that character; however, this is precisely what people look for when searching for an alternative to the disappointing incumbent. They look for a saviour, someone who will bridge the disconnect between those in authority and the unhappy, unemployed, struggling masses.

It was a promising start but a year on how can Obama’s first year in office be characterised? Above anything else it has to be that he has shown great resolve. His health reforms, for example, might not be popular but he has been firm, determined and resolute. However, he has run into trouble and his super majority has been knocked, following the Republican victory in Ted Kennedy’s seat, which was held by the Democrat for almost 50 years. This is significant, but we all know that voters use by-elections as a protest vote, so one must always be careful about the emphasis attached to this, even if it was a seat held by one of the Kennedy dynasty.

There are other reasons too. Some commentators have suggested, for example, that Martha Copley the Democrat candidate, although capable, considered the seat to be safe that she fought a weak campaign. This, combined with the Republicans playing on people’s fears of the effect health care reforms will have, secured a Republican victory.

Disappointment in leaders is universal but he has achieved what was considered an impossible dream, and his impact internationally is, in just a year, ten times superior to that achieved by George W. Bush.

More recently, Obama has shown what is known as soft power in his actions in Haiti which was devastated by the earthquake that hit a week ago. Offering humanitarian support on the scale it did positioned the States well, and illustrated its compassion to the international stage. Of course this has come under fire from the likes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who suggested this has been nothing more than a military occupation.

It’s been a difficult year, some of which, like Haiti, has been beyond Obama’s control. But he is also beginning to change the character of a country which was dominated by an attitude of a gung-ho unilateralist. Today the US is developing a more considered, intelligent approach not only domestically but also on foreign affairs and Obama is at the helm, steering it cleverly and carefully in and out of the troubles it faces.