Is Obamas Search for Common Ground Real?
In the stagecraft of statecraft, Barack Obama keeps searching for his leading role. Throughout much of his first year as president, he continued to portray himself as he had in his campaign for the White House. The cool, cerebral, controlled figure of the hustings moved into the Oval Office — but after a few months his approval ratings started to plummet and critics began to question his approach. Could a “cool” temperament appear frosty when some fire and passion seemed more appropriate? Was “cerebral” too much like an academic seminar of endless, inconclusive conversation? When Obama first spoke in public about the failed terrorist act near Detroit at Christmas, his calmness might have been reassuring, but it also raised doubts about how seriously he was taking the planned attack. Shortly afterwards, Obama became more animated and assertive, and during January his presidential rhetoric took on a range of different tones. In talking about the banks and their astronomical bonuses, he
