A Different Way to Think

President Obama spoke to Louisiana yesterday in an effort to protect his image.  This was a noble idea, even if a little late, but there were a few things that stood out for me during the press conference.  I’ll get to them later, but the main thing that seemed apparent is Obama’s leadership style.  Our president is a thinker who would rather spend precious time studying a disaster before acting, even though he admits the government still might mess up its efforts.  It was also refreshing to see that he now gets that you can’t bash and toy with every big business just for that purpose.  From his campaign you would have thought he would ban BP from the country for their accident, but now that he has time to learn what reality is, he is more cautious about his threats towards BP even in the face of Lousianans who want heads to roll.

The sad thing that happened yesterday was the way the media took a long press conference in which our “articulate” black president had long pauses as he tried to think of the answers to tough questions and edited the story down to smooth sound bites of his pre-written speaking points.  I think it’s safe to say that if this had been a press conference for President Bush the media would have played back the pauses and inconsistencies and it would have been the top news story as well as the monologue for David Letterman.  Oh wait, that happened with Katrina. 

I’ll spare the main points of the press conference as they are widely available online but I was both disheartened by and respectful of the president’s political game.  As a leader his style seems to be that whenever crisis occurs we need to study all angles and pick and choose a response even as the crisis continues to worsen.  This is both prudent and foolhardy.  Part of the criticism of President Bush, which the press conference of course also included some Bush attacks, is that Bush often reacted without thinking and then tried to figure things out after the fact.  He also would bend the rules and use back channels to solve problems rather than be transparent.

It is a fine idea to think first and react later IF your decisions ultimately mean a much better outcome.  Obama admitted however that even with all of his research and planning from day one of the disaster there will be big mistakes and heart breaking stories of personal loss.  If this is the case, maybe you’re better as a leader if you take action first and then plan, versus planning while you act.  There have been 5 weeks of watching oil leak from the ocean floor while really smart people met in D.C. and BP lied and did it’s best as a company to protect it’s business interests. 

So my thinking is that when that 3 a.m. phone call does happen, the President will probably tell them to call back in a few hours while he gets people together to think about how to react.

As a follower of politics I have learned to respect Obama for what he is.  He is a really great politician.  He doesn’t know how to lead but he could sell salt to a slug.  You have to respect his game and his ability to keep his supporters supporting him no matter what.  As an American, I fear that his game means he will pass too many policies that go against my beliefs because they are popular right now. 

 May God bless America as she morphs into it’s new Liberal-friendly form and moves away from capitalism.