With Obama catching flak from both the left and the right these days,
Edward Harrison has a very interesting post on Naked Capitalism that challenges the prevailing wisdom that Obama has the opportunity to be FDR. Harrison disagrees:
I have said before that Barack Obama is in a political and economic position more akin to Herbert Hoover than Franklin Roosevelt. Hoover dealt with a sick economy that was still falling. Roosevelt entered the White House after a large percentage of the economic damage had been done. I believe the economic situation for Obama is certainly less severe than it was for Hoover, but still precarious. I do not mean to say that Obama is the ‘black Herbert Hoover’ as my friend Yves keeps pointing out. I do mean to say that he needs to be thinking of himself as Hoover and not Roosevelt to have the right mental predisposition of what’s at stake.
So, from a purely Machiavellian perspective, Obama needs to jettison the professorial above-the-fray coolness and get down in the trenches and fight for what he believes in. And that means he is going to have to run roughshod over his enemies.
And Harrison has a very clear idea as to how Obama needs to behave.
Put bluntly, Obama needs to be an asshole. Right now it looks like he is willing to compromise on any and every issue. Yes, compromise is an integral part of leadership and governance. But, there is a time for compromise and a time to fight.
Maybe it's time for Barack to showcase his inner Rahm.
