By Prof. Emeritus Keith OlsonHistory DepartmentUniversity of Maryland
Newswise — After Barack Obama repeats the oath of office next January, he must establish the aura of confidence that he understands the problems the country faces, long-range and immediate, and that he has programs and policies to resolve them. Without personifying leadership, knowledge, and competence, he can not successfully address the problems. On a regular basis, moreover, he needs to keep Americans informed about what he is doing and why he is doing it. During the transition period between election and oath of office Obama, of course, will work with long-time advisers to select a cabinet and make appropriate statements about public matters that do not intrude upon the remaining days of the George W. Bush administration.
Logically Obama and his advisers will review the record of how his predecessors took command of the executive branch, especially Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), the most successful president since the Civil War and the president who faced the nation's greatest economic challenge. Most scholars identify FDR's ability to inspire confidence as his most important and most distinguishing characteristic. FDR, moreover, immediately attempted to revitalize the economy and to reform institutions that seemingly had contributed to the depression. Simultaneously he provided relief to masses of unemployed workers. On March 12th, after only eight days in office FDR gave his first "Fireside Chat," titled "The Banking Crisis," and that started "I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States ."
Fundamental to his initial actions Obama needs to inform the country and the world that he believes domestic condition are inseparable from foreign policy. In 1960 John F. Kennedy wrote that the line dividing "domestic and foreign affairs has become as indistinct as a line drawn in water." In his first inaugural address William J. Clinton reiterated that there "is no longer a clear division between what is foreign and what is domestic." During his presidency Dwight Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to accept a lower top federal income tax bracket because he needed the revenue and insisted a sound economy was the backbone of foreign policy. When he left office Americans who earned more than $400,000 paid 91% of their income in Federal income tax. Eisenhower was the last Republican president to present a balanced budget to Congress.
Obama campaigned on the theme of change and an important change needed is to recognize limits, to curtail overreach, to avoid what Democrat J. William Fulbright, long-time chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, called "the arrogance of power." Conservative journalist George Will once told readers it is "flatly contradictory" to believe the federal government is incapable of major domestic reform yet should spend trillion of dollars and military lives to reunite and rebuild foreign countries.
During his campaign Obama made promises in many areas, including education, taxes, Iraq, Iran, health insurance, and energy. These promises, and the consistent theme for change raised expectations. He faces a difficult challenge to blend promises and expectations into his long-range and immediate programs and policies.
Starting with his inaugural address Obama needs to resonate as a leader personally comfortable in the White House and in the world, as an analyst who understand the national institutional breakdowns and the need for reform, as a politician who recognizes the lack of trust in government, as a reformer who will rationalize and restructure the country's identity and the role of government.
Obama's campaign suggests he has the ability to meet the challenges. A review of how his predecessors faced and met their challenges offer insights that Obama needs to consider. The first few weeks of a new administration is a time of great opportunity for the president. For Obama the opportunity is especially great because the challenges are so formidable.
About Prof. Keith Olson
Keith Olson is an emeritus professor of History at the University of Maryland. Prof. Olson has written extensively about 20th century presidents and their administrations. His most recent book is Watergate - the Scandal that Shook America. His The G.I Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges, was runner-up for the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize of the Organization of American Historians. He is currently working on a book about the Eisenhower administration and civil rights. In 1986-1987, 1993-1994, and 2004 he served as a Fulbright Professor in Finland and is an honorary member of the Finnish Historical Society. Twice he has been the recipient of campus-wide Outstanding Teaching Awards. Related to twentieth-century presidential history in the United States, he has appeared on radio and television, including the History Channel and C-Span, and on television in Canada, New Zealand and Finland . In May 2000 the University of Tampere, Finland, awarded him an honorary PhD.
RSS