The Importance of Being Obama

Sergio Abranches

Obama delivered an extraordinary speech yesterday on Health Care. A speech that has elements that can only be understood if we account for the President’s singular political personality.

I’ve watched many US president’s addressing Congress over my life as a political analyst. I can’t find on my memory files any as blunt and direct as Obama’s last night speech on Health Care. It was a politically unique piece. It was also unusually assertive, to the point of sounding as a challenge. From what has leaked to the press, the president framed the address on his own. Presidents don’t write their speeches. They have professionals to do it. But the tone, and the direction of yesterday’s speech have a more personal touch than it is usual. It was reported that Obama worked on the speech over the weekend, modified it several times, and gave personal directions as to the final writing. What came out from the TelePrompTer to the microphones had, additionally the carefully chosen intonation of a remarkable speaker to mark his words.

Obama is part of a minority group among US presidents: those with Congressional carriers, rather than experience on Executive Offices. Presidents that had been Congresspersons before getting elected to the White House were very few: Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, George Bush senior, and Barack Obama. Only Johnson, Ford, and Obama had an exclusively Congressional experience before arriving at the White House. But Johnson and Ford had prior White House experience as Vice-presidents. Obama is the only one to move directly from Capitol Hill to the Oval Office.

Yet, US political analysts don’t think this singular feature of Obama’s political character to be relevant to explain his political behavior and attitude before Congress. It is as relevant as it was to understand Lyndon Johnson’s peculiar manner to deal with Congress, especially regarding the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act, and his Vietnam policies.

Obama was keenly aware of the heavy climate under which he would address the joint session of Congress. He has a distinctive understanding of Capitol Hill’s political bickering and gaming. He knows the limits to a bipartisan understanding over such controversial issues as Health Care. He dealt personally with all relevant political opinion-makers on Capitol Hill. Last, but not least, Obama knows, better than anyone else, the extent of distrust and prejudice he faces among his former peers.

To me, entire paragraphs of his speech sounded far more a peer to peer message than a President’s address to Congress. They were framed on Congressional, rather than Executive terms. Other parts, however, were like a blunt reminder that he was no longer a peer talking to his colleagues, but the President addressing Congress. Obama knew how much his former peers were raising doubts about his fortitude, and to what extent they were intending to challenge his authority. Several segments of Obama’s speech were meant to reach beyond the walls of Congress, to his constituency. His electoral success, and unprecedented fast carrier track in politics should serve as a hint of how well he understands the Public’s mood.

Presidential regimes are largely influenced by the personal traits of presidents. The specific manner a president chooses to assert his leadership and his individual character are as important to understand the political process under a particular Administration as political, social, and economic factors.

Obama’s peculiar political trajectory will be a major defining factor of his Administration. The fact that his political skills have been primarily shaped while working on community political organization, as a senator, and running a successful campaign of mobilization against all odds clearly affect his political attitudes and behavior as President.

These personal traits do make Obama a singular President in the history of modern US Presidency. They help us to better understand all the implications of his speech and his attitudes. It was an extraordinary piece of political oratory. An unprecedented style to convey a Presidential message to a Congress with a hostile opposition and a vacillating majority. It was both a message to mates, and a reminder that he is no longer a peer, but the President, with a different charge of responsibility, and distinct political interests.

Whether it will succeed remains to be seen. But I have the feeling that Obama has probably gotten at least two of his goals: to get the majority together again, and persuade independents to join the majority vote. It is likely that he was able to make it clear to Republicans that either they choose to talk and cooperate, or he will seek the route of majority vote. If they decide to cooperate, he is willing to compromise further. The Republican response, during and after the speech, showed that there will be no end to polarization, at least on the short run.

It was a political event that will have a place of it own on US history, no matter how this process ends. It was a rare occasion, be it because of a president addressing an unusual joint-session of Congress; be it because of the unique terms of the President’s speech; be it because of the strong emotional undercurrents that could be sensed even from afar, watching it on TV.