The Permanent Campaign

clipped from www.qando.net I think Toby Harnden of the UK’s Telegraph describes pretty well what most of us have observed and concluded about President Obama: Perhaps we should not be surprised that the land of the permanent campaign has produced a president like Barack Obama. During his White House bid, Mr Obama’s staff argued that his masterful oversight of the machinery that ultimately got him elected was his highest achievement. In many respects this was true, though Mr Obama was more chairman than CEO. Even Republican political operatives acknowledge that the Obama ‘08 campaign was a thing of beauty. Therein lies the problem. While campaigning could centre around soaring rhetoric, governing is altogether messier. It involves tough, unpopular choices and cutting deals with opponents. It requires doing things rather than talking about them, let alone just being. Mr Obama is showing little appetite for this. Instead of being the commander-in-chief, he is the campaigner-in-chief.