Barack Obama and the Cult of Competency
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/polling_the_transition_obama_s.html?hpid=topnews
Barack Obama and the Cult of Competency
President-elect Obama is using his transition to emphasize how his administration will be different than that of the current president.
Barack Obama won the White House last month in large part by running against George W. Bush and tapping into the public perception that his administration has been ineffectual in handling important policy questions. So it's not surprise that in the first month of his transition to the presidency, the president-elect is putting a premium on competence above all else.
From his decisions to bring in former rivals (is everyone sick of the "Team of Rivals" references yet?) to his repeated emphasis on the qualifications of each of his nominees for the Cabinet, Obama's first month as the president-elect seems designed to serve as a point by point refutation of the way Bush handled the White House over the past eight years.
Where John McCain was marginalized/punished following his 2000 primary challenge to Bush, Obama put his main primary rival -- Hillary Rodham Clinton -- into one of the most important spots in his Cabinet. Where Bush was seen as installing his Texas team into the White House, Obama has purposely avoided putting his closest Chicago confidantes (with the exception of Valerie Jarrett) into high-ranking positions.
Looking at the last month then, that cult of competency (not bad, eh?) -- more so than any grand ideological vision -- is the common thread that ties together all of Obama's picks for his Cabinet and White House senior staff to date.
Obama seems far more focused on ensuring that his nominees have impeccable credentials and a readiness for the job rather than that they fit into a specific ideological box or share a particular vision on the issue (or issues) they will oversee in his Administration.
The American public, long weary of the perceived mismanagement and incompetence of Bush (Katrina, war in Iraq, the economy), is reacting well to Obama's approach to the transition thus far.
A Gallup poll conducted on Monday showed that nearly eight in ten (78 percent) approved of the way Obama is handling the transition with a scant 13 percent disapproving.
Individual Cabinet picks received similar high marks. Seven in ten voters approved of the president-elect naming Clinton as his secretary of State while 80 percent approved of Obama asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay in his current position.
Obama has also quickly emerged as a more credible messenger than Bush on the economy. Nearly two-thirds of those polled said they trust Obama more than Bush to handle the economy, while just 20 percent said they trusted the current president more than the soon-to-be president on the issue.
Before the champagne is popped over in Obamaland, however, it's worth remembering at least two caveats.
First, people historically have approved of transitions no matter how haphazard they may be.
In a mid-December 1992 Gallup survey, 67 percent of those polled approved of the way Bill Clinton was handing his own transition despite that most politicos believe that to be the most unorganized -- and mismanaged -- handover of power in recent memory.
Second, Obama is still dining out -- in terms of public opinion -- on the fact that he is not Bush. Bush's approval ratings were so dismal and the number of people who believed the country had veered off in the wrong direction so high that his successor was almost certain to reap the benefit.
Once Obama becomes president in his own right on Jan. 20 and Bush begins to recede from view, the 44th president will be less able to focus solely on competence and instead will face more persistent questions about his grand vision for the country and how he will take us there.
How Obama answers those questions will be the test of his first 100 days -- and perhaps far longer -- in office.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/polling_the_transition_obama_s.html?hpid=topnews
Barack Obama and the Cult of Competency
President-elect Obama is using his transition to emphasize how his administration will be different than that of the current president.
Barack Obama won the White House last month in large part by running against George W. Bush and tapping into the public perception that his administration has been ineffectual in handling important policy questions. So it's not surprise that in the first month of his transition to the presidency, the president-elect is putting a premium on competence above all else.
From his decisions to bring in former rivals (is everyone sick of the "Team of Rivals" references yet?) to his repeated emphasis on the qualifications of each of his nominees for the Cabinet, Obama's first month as the president-elect seems designed to serve as a point by point refutation of the way Bush handled the White House over the past eight years.
Where John McCain was marginalized/punished following his 2000 primary challenge to Bush, Obama put his main primary rival -- Hillary Rodham Clinton -- into one of the most important spots in his Cabinet. Where Bush was seen as installing his Texas team into the White House, Obama has purposely avoided putting his closest Chicago confidantes (with the exception of Valerie Jarrett) into high-ranking positions.
Looking at the last month then, that cult of competency (not bad, eh?) -- more so than any grand ideological vision -- is the common thread that ties together all of Obama's picks for his Cabinet and White House senior staff to date.
Obama seems far more focused on ensuring that his nominees have impeccable credentials and a readiness for the job rather than that they fit into a specific ideological box or share a particular vision on the issue (or issues) they will oversee in his Administration.
The American public, long weary of the perceived mismanagement and incompetence of Bush (Katrina, war in Iraq, the economy), is reacting well to Obama's approach to the transition thus far.
A Gallup poll conducted on Monday showed that nearly eight in ten (78 percent) approved of the way Obama is handling the transition with a scant 13 percent disapproving.
Individual Cabinet picks received similar high marks. Seven in ten voters approved of the president-elect naming Clinton as his secretary of State while 80 percent approved of Obama asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay in his current position.
Obama has also quickly emerged as a more credible messenger than Bush on the economy. Nearly two-thirds of those polled said they trust Obama more than Bush to handle the economy, while just 20 percent said they trusted the current president more than the soon-to-be president on the issue.
Before the champagne is popped over in Obamaland, however, it's worth remembering at least two caveats.
First, people historically have approved of transitions no matter how haphazard they may be.
In a mid-December 1992 Gallup survey, 67 percent of those polled approved of the way Bill Clinton was handing his own transition despite that most politicos believe that to be the most unorganized -- and mismanaged -- handover of power in recent memory.
Second, Obama is still dining out -- in terms of public opinion -- on the fact that he is not Bush. Bush's approval ratings were so dismal and the number of people who believed the country had veered off in the wrong direction so high that his successor was almost certain to reap the benefit.
Once Obama becomes president in his own right on Jan. 20 and Bush begins to recede from view, the 44th president will be less able to focus solely on competence and instead will face more persistent questions about his grand vision for the country and how he will take us there.
How Obama answers those questions will be the test of his first 100 days -- and perhaps far longer -- in office.
