What’s Wrong with Obama?

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By: Kathleen Schafer, Founding Principal-Leadership Connection

What happened to the charismatic, inspirational and visionary “leader” who rode into Washington nearly two years ago on the river of hope and an intense public desire for things to be “different?” Has this man changed from a believer in the power of individuals to make things better into a cynic, corrupted by the world’s greatest power game? Perhaps what we see in Obama now, is the stark reality of what happens when well-intentioned leaders get elected to office and start listening more to their handlers than to their authentic selves.

Yes, I’ve repeatedly heard the drone of all those who live within the beltway saying there are “political realities” that must not be ignored, there are established ways of “doing things,” and if you want to win you need to “play the game.” So here’s my question, even those who are supposedly playing the game (think Obama, Harry Reid, etc.) are in terrible political trouble, so what good does it do for a political official to sell their soul to the devil, or at least to handlers, while racing to the bottom? If you are going to go down in flames as a political leader wouldn’t it be better to at least have your integrity intact?

From the perspective of the leadership choice, Obama’s greatest misstep has not been one of politics, it has been one of self-awareness and his inability to stay anchored in the values he so desperately wanted to bring to our political system. Another great misstep is to have already sold-out to the chess match of re-election politics. For the next several weeks, we will hear commentators of all stripes discussing how the mid-term elections will and won’t impact his re-election bid–and we can be assured Obama’s advisors will be closely following all of it. This is where the greatest leadership challenge of contemporary politics lies–in the surrender of the re-election bid in favor of actually leading and creating lasting change on the issues facing our society.

But, you may argue, how is anyone supposed to lead if they are not in office? I don’t see anyone leading while he or she is in office! The reason our political system is essentially defunct is because the moment an “agent of change” is elected to office, their entire perception shifts to remaining in office and not doing anything innovative like actually leading. Do we really think things will be different if John Boehner is elected Speaker of the House next January? We may have a different hue on the policies, but the dynamics will be the same . . . the majority will try to take more power (seats) and the minority will do everything to stand in their way . . .

Let’s consider what is perhaps the greatest paradoxes of power by recalling one of our country’s greatest leaders, George Washington. Washington actually gave up his position of power four times throughout his career. Washington could do this because he did not seek power for the sake of power, rather his ambition was to serve in the best possible way. Washington followed this path for many reasons, the least of which is that he knew that when he had given his best, it was simply time to walk away–which is why the country came back to his leadership time and again.