Star quality isn’t enough to govern

By Lee Raudonis

Unlike some of my Republican friends, I do not blame President Barack Obama for going to Denmark to campaign for his hometown of Chicago (and our country) to be the site of the 2016 Olympic Games. The leaders of other nations went, and there is no valid reason why our president should not have gone.

The argument that the trip was a distraction from other more important problems from the economy to the war in Afghanistan doesn’t hold much water, given the fact that these issues can be addressed just as effectively — or ineffectively — from Air Force One as from the White House.

Likewise, I do not blame the president for Chicago’s failure to capture the Olympic prize. Those who claim that the Windy City’s rejection was also a rejection of the president overlook the realities of a very complicated International Olympic Committee selection process that is certainly influenced by much more than the speeches of national leaders.

While I wish our nation’s entry into the Olympic competition had prevailed, I think the IOC’s decision to choose Rio de Janeiro may provide a very valuable lesson for President Obama and his advisers. If they are paying attention, they should take away the lesson that having “rock star” status may draw large crowds and popular support, but it is not going to convince hard-nose politicians with their own agendas to follow the president’s lead, whether it be in choosing an Olympic city or overhauling health care. Nor is it going to convince our nation’s enemies that they should put down their weapons and talk to the nice, new young American president.

During the long, drawn-out presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008, the Obama team was very effective in using Obama’s charm and intelligence to propel the little-known candidate with virtually no legislative accomplishments into a virtual pop culture icon with rock star status. People, particularly young people with little understanding of the candidate’s views on issues, jumped on the Obama bandwagon in large numbers, leading to a decisive victory on Election Day.

Since taking office, the president and his advisers have continued to utilize the Obama charisma in an attempt to achieve their legislative goals. Whenever an Obama policy initiative meets opposition in Congress, e.g., health care reform, the president is sent out on the “town hall” circuit to rally popular support for his programs.

Eight months after taking office, however, most of the president’s proposals are still languishing in an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, with many having less popular support now than when they were introduced. And, foreign leaders from North Korea to Libya to Iran continue to proclaim very publicly their hostility to the U.S. and our allies.

By the time the filibuster-proof Congress completes this session, it is likely that the president will achieve a fair amount of his legislative agenda for the year, but that should not be a sign to this administration that having charisma is all that is necessary for a successful presidency. Rather, it should simply be a recognition of the fact that the Democrats have a significant majority, and if that majority is weakened in 2010, more than presidential charisma will be needed to successfully push the Obama agenda.

George W. Bush’s presidency suffered from a severe case of “charisma deficit disorder,” but he was still successful in achieving some legislative victories, including the Medicare Part D drug program and the No Child Left Behind education initiative, both of which depended on bipartisan support in the Congress. Bush was also successful — at least until this point in time — in turning around the war in Iraq. The current administration needs to learn that the president’s rock star status, while helpful at times, is not sufficient to overcome political realities within the U.S. Congress and foreign nations. Hopefully, the trip to Denmark came at a “teachable moment.”

Lee Raudonis is a communications consultant living in Big Canoe. He is a former communications director and executive director of the Georgia Republican Party.