[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]
DAY FOUR
As with my last book, I became intrigued by the character and operating style of President Obama. I spoke to a lot of people who shed light on what he’s like behind closed doors. Here’s a taste of what I found.
[Jonathan Alter, author of the new book “The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies”, is joining us as a guest blogger this week in the Editor’s Blog highlighting and discussing some key findings and revelations in his new book. – jmm]
DAY FOUR
As with my last book, I became intrigued by the character and operating style of President Obama. I spoke to a lot of people who shed light on what he’s like behind closed doors. Here’s a taste of what I found.
“Even when he was in deep trouble politically, Bill Clinton always loved the game. This wasn’t true of Obama. His long list of policy achievements in his first two years occurred in spite of an aversion to the normal requirements of politics: dealing with legislators, building coalitions, selling relentlessly with a message repeated ad nauseam.
“The uncomfortable truth was that he didn’t much like politics and didn’t enjoy the company of other politicians; in fact he didn’t even consider himself to be one, at least not at heart. Most of those around the president didn’t think of him as a politician and marveled that he had come so far without the usual political equipment. Sure, he spent plenty of time calculating the political angles, but this engagement was usually from a distance, as if he had to prevent the grubby realities of his business from soiling his image of himself.
“It was sometimes said that he didn’t like people; this was wrong. It was needy and shortsighted politicians, entitled donors, and useless grandstanders who tried his patience. He liked people who could satisfy his curiosity, make him laugh, and tell him things he didn’t know.
“He didn’t like people who wanted a piece of him, failed to do their jobs, or who thought their wealth and position made their analysis and advice by definition superior to that of the less wealthy and powerful….
“As Obama found his groove, all the talk about his not communicating seemed in the past. By the end of the campaign, he was conveying his message so well that voters on the street were regurgitating “make or- break moment for the middle class” and other arguments back to reporters and pollsters. And Obama communicated the one quality that matters most in politics: trust. For all of the disappointments in their own lives, the people still felt that the president of the United States was honest and even a little cool.
“On the road Obama enjoyed spending time with the campaign’s state directors. They all had the same playoff beards and the same approach–humble, hardworking, smart, and almost always willing to give credit first to their troops. The president would say, “Take a picture,” and usually the state director would reply, “No, take one with my team.” Finally, Marty Nesbitt said to Obama, “Everywhere we go, that’s the same dude.” The president agreed and he loved it. He had created a self-reinforcing subculture of young leaders much less self absorbed than the activists of an earlier era. “They’re better than we were–much better,” he liked to say….
“About a month after the election, the Obamas hosted a small party for close friends and a few people from the administration and the campaign. The president was standing in a small group and said he was the only president since Roosevelt to have won twice with more than 51 percent of the vote. It was true that Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton all had three-way races that kept them under 51 percent. Eisenhower was in fact the last such president, but that was more than a half-century ago, so the boast was still impressive enough.
“One of his African American friends, switching to street vernacular, said, “Well, I guess that makes it perfectly clear: youse a bad motherfucker.”
“That’s my point,” the president replied, without missing a beat.
