Find a relatively current news story that illustrates something about the leadership of President Obama and discuss the story in relation to the material in the text in chapter 4 on power and/or leadership. Make sure you give the author, title, date, and source for your story.
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The title of the article I found in the New York Times is “Obama to Forge a Greater Role on Healthcare”. The article was run on June 6, 2009 and was written by Sheryl Gay Stolberg. It opens by saying that President Obama will not leave the details to Congress, but that he feels he must have a greater influence on healthcare legislation. It talks about how President Bill Clinton tried to get healthcare reform pushed through and failed doing so. This relates to the “cycles of American politics”, and apparently President Obama is a little concerned that that same cycle 15 years ago hasn’t completely run its course yet. Also, relating to presidents having “limited powers” like the texts talks about… is there really any more he can do other than “an intense push for legislation that will include speeches, town-hall-style meetings and much deeper engagement with lawmakers”.
ReplyDelete-Heath Wheat
This story is from May 8, 2009 written by Ed Hornick of CNN. Its called "analysis: Whats ahead for Obama in the next 100 days" It discusses where Obama is currently and where he is going. It also discusses how he may face some serious challenges from Republicans on issues to come. We discussed in Chapter 4 how it is tough to get things accomplished if the "winds of change" are against you and I feel Obama could be in for a tough ride. However, we also discussed how Reagan was able to turn high approval ratings into ammunition to make Congress fear him. Obamas job approval is high enough (in the mid 60's) at this time to do so so he must seize this "window of opportunity" and look to get things done early on in his presidency. The main issue he is facing opposition from Republicans on is the economic stimulus and the FY 2010 budget plan. Mr. hornick mentions that only through bipartisanship and getting the 2 sides to agree on the major issues will be the only way Obama will be able to get the job done. --Adam Wise
ReplyDeleteThe title of my article is "Obama's Leadership Challenge". It was written by Ian Bremmer on March 2, 2009.
ReplyDeleteThis article describes President Obama's challenge as it relates to leadership and the current bind he finds himself in. Many have questioned his leadership, especially after a party-line stimulus package and a failed bank-rescue-plan unveiling. The leadership his administration shows will tell the tale of how well his projects like the stimulus will be received. Though things don't let good for Obama at the onset, inheriting a major financial crisis, but he looks to be making great strides thus far, gaining a few votes from the public in terms of how well he is doing. As in Reagan's case, his high approval rating could draw him some power. With that, he can get alot of things done early on in his term.
-Michael Baltzegar
Kemberly Merritt
ReplyDeletePresident Obama exercises his power and leader as President of the United States of America when d=he decided to fire Gerald Walpin the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service. As I read the article President Obama has reason for firing him, but his past speaks for itself of all the different things he did wrong. Many people says that President Obama is supposed to give a 30 day notice before firing him. President Obama fired him immediately with little notice saying he was “exercising my power as President.” This article gives a clear view of the President using power and leadership. http.www.abcnews.com, Political Punch, ABC News White House Correspondent- Jake Tapper, June 12, 2009.
The title of my article is "Obama's Leadership Challenge". It was written by Alaina Love of BusinessWeek on January 27, 2009. It discusses the leadership skills that Obama must "employ" to succeed as a President. The ones that are listed in the article are "Engage the Nation" where it talks about how he "has engaged Americans in the struggle to rebuild our country and regain respect on the world stage" and "Obama has accomplished that by setting a clear vison"; "Demonstrate Passionate Leadership" talks about how to "utilize those passions to get results" and how he connects with the voters; "Hire and Empower Talented People whose Passions, Skills, and Vaules Balance Your Own" discusses "The team the President builds around him will need to be equally passionate adn held to the same standard of high skills and strong values." and how everyone will work together. The last listed one is "Find the Zone and Hold Everyone Accountable". This point says that "he will need to create a work environment in which all can perform in a zone where their skills, passions, and values intersect" in order to bring our country out of its messes. This article coincides with "The Building Blocks of Presidential Leadership" in the "Presidential Power and Leadership" chapter of our book. In this section it talks about "Vision" and how it can "transform a polictical system, recreate the regime of power, and chart a course for change. Vision energizes and empowers, inspires, and moves people and organizations. The section also talks about "Skill" and "Political Timing" where skill "sets the parameters of what is possible in leadership" and political timing discusses the timing and the "key decisions" that the president makes when he gets into office such as who to fill the different positions and when there is change and how to deal with transitions. It is obvious that Obama must hold most of these leadership qualities in order to provide rightfull leadership and to accomplish all of his promises that he has made to this country and to be a sucessfull leader of our country.
ReplyDeleteA few responses. Several of the stories were a bit old in a fast moving administration, but they worked ok. The bank rescue seems to have worked, as many banks are now repaying the loans they took out and money is being loaned again. But of course things could still to wrong and not all banks made it--some were taken over and had assets transferred to other banks under government supervision. But no depositors lost their savings, and that is what the FDIC is all about.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of the firing--will have to look up that story -- but off the top of my head it may illustrate a failure to persuade -- had Obama been persuasive enough, he might not have needed to fire anyone. But on the other hand it may have been a firing to increase his persuasive power with other bureaucrats, and getting the bureaucracy to move is a real problem for all presidents!
As Ashlyn points out in her story, timing means a lot to the success or presidents. And the timing on health care, Heath's story, will be one key. This is probably the toughest thing he has tried to do domestically. With 47-50 million uninsured and about another 25 million underinsured, a lot of people need help. But a majority still have health insurance and they tend to be the better off and more politically active. So the key is whether they are worried enough about their own health insurance to support major changes. He must convince them that his plan does not endanger the coverage they already have and will provide good options if they lose coverage. And he much also contend with the bogyman of a government take-over and socialized medicine, something he says he does not support but something that Republican opposition are using to bludgeon his "public plan" option. As long as he and Democrats are on the defensive here, they will lose the public opinion battle and probably the policy will not pass. He has tried to bring more parties to the table, including the private insurance companies, but they seem only to want to torpedo anything that forces them to compete with a government/public plan. Whether he decides to take them on and use his popularity to make them defend their higher administrative costs (much of which goes to advertising) remains to be seen. We say a first step on his beginning to do this when he spoke at the AMA meeting yesterday. All this may unfold in the next few weeks. And I did not even talk about the cost of $1 trillion over the next 10 years (of course supporters might compare that to the over $1 we have spent on the Iraq war over the last 6 years). Bottom line, he cannot leave leadership on any plan to congressional Democrats--if he wants a plan, he must begin to lead in support of some particular plan and put the other side on the defensive. Getting a plan in place would rival the Social Security plan created under FDR--the single thing, for better or worse, for which his presidency will have the greatest long term impact.