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About Me
- Robert Botsch, USCA Political Science
- I am the one on the right! I have been a professor of political science at USCA since 1978. We will use this blog for class discussion and for posting written assignments that I may make. When you post you may do so using the anonymous profile, but please sign your name to all your posts! Posts are shown REVERSE chronological order. The most recent post is at the top. So READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP in the topics shown in the BLOG ARCHIVE above.
Paradox 8 is possibly the most challenging paradox for any president. It states that what it takes to be president may not be what is needed to govern the nation. President Obama, as well as all other presidential candidates, made many promises and took his stance on many issues. These sometimes-empty promises may have gotten the President(s) to the office but it will take fulfilling them to help them govern the people. The president must balance his plans to fulfill his promise with the other jobs of governing a nation. The promises may have gotten President Obama this far but it will be keeping them that will make him successful. So far I think that he is doing a great job. His promise of change has somewhat came to pass.
ReplyDeleteI think that paradox 6 poses the greatest challenge from President Obama. The writer(s) state that the American people want a president who is "bold, visionary, and innovative". However, we want to be listened to and "resist being led to far in one direction". The present is a very trying time for our nation with lots of decisons that are going to have to be made. I believe that President Obama is innovative enough to make those decisions and implement the change he spoke of so often on the campaign trail. However, will the American people see him as bold and visionary, or as pushy and unconcerned with their opinions?
ReplyDeleteJoseph mentions promise keeping as a challenge. All of you might look at the PolitiFact link on the course website to see how he is doing in keeping promises--they are keeping a running record.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that William's concern about going too far will happen about when we are asked to make some real sacrifice like an energy tax to move us away from carbon fuels and to create incentives for energy conservation--did you know, by the way, that this course has a smaller carbon footprint than any face-to-face course taught at USCA! :) bob b
After looking at the different paradoxes, I believe that Paradox number 1 is the paradox that Obama could have the most problems with. We the people want a leader that can solve the nations problems, yet we want to signiicantly limit the powers of the president. From my understanding, Democrats in general want more government. We have already had the President get involved with big business by calling for the resignation of CEO's of certain car companies. He is doing this in an attempt to solve the bankruptcy problems they are faced with, but it could pose potential problems should he continue to do so. I personally raised an eyebrow when he asked for his resignation because I don't understand what gives him the right to do so. I could see very easily how Americans could become very concerned should this type of thing continue. Adam Wise
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joseph about Paradox number 8. As with many of our former presidents and people running for the presidency, Obama has made many promises to people. The thing is will he keep them. According to the Politifact website there are already six unkept promises. While making promises may get presidents in office, its keeping them that will help with their popularity and make them successful. Obama has to work the promises that he made into his plans to change America. If he fails to meet many more of his promises, he may be seen as unsuccessful.
ReplyDeleteParadox #5 - President Obama
ReplyDeleteKemberly Merritt
June 4, 2008
APLS 463
Paradox #5 poses the greatest challenge for President Obama. Paradox # 5 means we want a president who can unify diverse people and interests; however, the job requires taking firm stands, making unpopular or controversial decisions that necessarily upset and divide. President Obama wants to unify the people of the United States to show that everyone should be able to work together for a common cause. President Obama being the first African American Presidents, this brought a change to the United States that we can all come together for the common good. President Obama has chosen to give stimulus money to the United States, but South Carolina is facing the challenge that the governor does not want to accept the stimulus for many reasons. President Obama want to help keep things going such as jobs and education. There are many people that disagree with the stimulus and are upset and divided from others that agree with the stimulus. I thinks President Obama is doing well with this particular paradox, because he is not making decision based on what the people of the United States thinks. He is making decisions on what is best for the people of the United States
KaLa Roberts
ReplyDeleteAPLS 463
June 4th, 2009
I feel Paradox #8 is the biggest challenge for Obama because it is so true. To often have the American body been promised better life, equality, etc. while the Presidential candidates are campaigning but once that position has been won, we rarely hear more of it. Broken promises. Promises of a better America and putting on what you think the public wants to see and actually fulfilling the needs of the people are two totally different agendas. We need a President that will do as they said they would, a trusting President. During his campaign, Obama's main goal was convincing us there would be change once he was elected. That was one of the major reasons he won because we felt like we really needed change in these hard times. Now we have to wait and see if he will actually be a man of his word and walk the walk along with the talk. Some are already waiting for his promises to fall through so thsi makes it even harder for him to overcome the statistic of Paradox #8. Personally, I feel like he's making progress already.
I will wait till the last couple of comments come in before I say which paradox is the greatest -- a could of people ordered their texts on-line from long distance and are running a few days behind, so I giving them a little extra time.
ReplyDeleteMaintaining unity (Kimberly, paradox #5) is certainly significant. It is easier to unify people around generalities than around specific proposals -- and the specifics must come when one is actually proposing legislation.
The problem of keeping promises, number 8, that several of you point to is certainly a challenge for a president who made a lot of promises and who people expected a lot from because of the great problems the nation faces. Crisis does provide greater opportunity to get Congress to go along.
I thought a very interesting moment in the NBC "Inside the White House" special the first night was when Obama was asked about the problem of taking on too much, and he responded by asking exactly which things should he drop. We want a lot of things and need a lot of things in this particular time in history.
But I do worry when he goes to the Middle East and tries to begin a dialogue on finally resolving the 60 year conflict that has been taking place there since Israel was founded in 1948. At least he did not promise any quick fixes there--if he was to do this, he was wise to finally say the truth to both sides, that each one must give up something. But that is taking on another big task. Nevertheless, it is related to other tasks he faces, like becoming independent of middle east oil and global warming. It will be a lot easier to tell the truth to corrupt middle east governments when we are no longer dependent on the oil they sell us.
So I guess I am saying two things here--a risk exists in trying to take on all these things, but a lot of these things are interconnected, and the attention he now has from the nation and Congress and the world may not happen again until the next great crisis--that attention is necessary to do what is necessary to perhaps avoid the next great crisis. Complicated? Most definitely. Bob B
I, too, tend to agree with the majority of others in agreeing that paradox #8, "what it takes to become president may not be what is needed to govern the natin", is the most challenging one of them all for President Obama. Our reading points out that it takes a lot to be elected president; ambition, money, years of hard work just to name a few. However, governing a democracy goes far and beyond experiences and such. We can, I'm sure, only imagine what it is like to be president. No amount of experience or advice could have possibly prepared President Obama for what he was getting into. Due to his race alone, many people have already placed a target on his back and wouldn't dare give him the time of day. Many will criticize him unfairly early on, so broken promises will simply be a grounds of more ridicule for him. The one thing he has going for him, however, is that we are in a time of crisis. We take a look at the economy and think to ourselves, "how could this possibly get any worse?" With that said, any positive outcomes can easily be attributed to Obama and his staff. Preaching change as he did in his campaign really simplified his goal for many Americans. Obama noticed that we were all struggling, and vowed to give us a better nation. That garnered him my vote, and it got him many others as well. We simply wanted something new and something innovative and, thus far, I think we got that with President Obama.
ReplyDelete-Michael Baltzegar