Debunking the myth of the SuperHero Powers of the Presidency

[MBS]

Two thoughtful opeds:
1. In today's issue of The Nation, by Eric Alterman "Obama's Pundit Problem" http://www.thenation.com/article/179733/obamas-pundit-problem
Excerpt:

"To take just one example, on April 30 Dowd penned a juvenile and intellectually incoherent column, obnoxiously headlined Is Barry Whiffing? In it, she eschewed any form of evidence or common sense to give voice to the now-platitudinous Beltway belief that Obama should just fix everything already. . .
There is certainly no place like the one these pundits imagine Obama to be living in—one in which the likes of Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz and Eric Cantor can be forced to behave responsibly by presidential fiat. But Dowd, like so much of the punditocracy, writes as if she lives in just such an Oz-like dream world. Here she is, for instance, discussing Republican recalcitrance, which, naturally, she blames on Obama (as if those flying monkeys were Dorothy’s fault): 'It is his job to get them to behave. . it's called leadership.'
Actually, it’s called fantasy. .

2. by Norm Ornstein- an April oped on the same theme, giving people a reality check on what it takes to move legislation through Congress: http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-most-enduring-myth-about-the-presidency-20140422

The LBJ Library recently held a multiday program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and by all accounts, the program was stirring and stimulating, up to and including President Obama's speech. But there was one downside: the reactivation of one of the most enduring memes and myths about the presidency, and especially the Obama presidency. Like Rasputin (or Whac-A-Mole,) it keeps coming back even after it has been bludgeoned and obliterated by facts and logic. I feel compelled to whack this mole once more.

The meme is what Matthew Yglesias, writing in 2006, referred to as "the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics," and has been refined by Greg Sargent and Brendan Nyhan into the Green Lantern Theory of the presidency. In a nutshell, it attributes heroic powers to a president—if only he would use them. And the holders of this theory have turned it into the meme that if only Obama used his power of persuasion, he could have the kind of success that LBJ enjoyed with the Great Society, that Bill Clinton enjoyed in his alliance with Newt Gingrich that gave us welfare reform and fiscal success, that Ronald Reagan had with Dan Rostenkowski and Bill Bradley to get tax reform, and so on. . .

I do understand the sentiment here and the frustration over the deep dysfunction that has taken over our politics. It is tempting to believe that a president could overcome the tribalism, polarization, and challenges of the permanent campaign, by doing what other presidents did to overcome their challenges. It is not as if passing legislation and making policy was easy in the old days.But here is the reality, starting with the Johnson presidency. . .

When Obama had the numbers, not as robust as LBJ's but robust enough, he had a terrific record of legislative accomplishments. The 111th Congress ranks just below the 89th in terms of significant and far-reaching enactments, from the components of the economic stimulus plan to the health care bill to Dodd/Frank and credit-card reform. But all were done with either no or minimal Republican support. LBJ and Reagan had willing partners from the opposite party; Obama has had none. Nothing that he could have done would have changed the clear, deliberate policy of Republicans uniting to oppose and obstruct his agenda, that altered long-standing Senate norms to use the filibuster in ways it had never been employed before, including in the LBJ, Reagan, and Clinton eras, that drew sharp lines of total opposition on policies like health reform and raising taxes as part of a broad budget deal.
. . the brutal reality, in today's politics, is that LBJ, if he were here now, could not be the LBJ of the Great Society years in this environment. Nobody can, and to demand otherwise is both futile and foolish.

Moral: GOTV this fall!

[pinto]

1. Great to see this pointed out in national publications.

[pansypoo53219]

2. it's the reagan ball sucking crapitalism loving gnewz media's fault for not reporting

HOW THE GOP has locked EVERYTHING OBAMA has tried to move america BEYOND reaganism. the do not SHOW the disloyalty of the rite who wants obama to FAIL, they don't care if america burns too. the gnewz is on the wrong side.

[riqster]

3. In the absence of bipartisanship, numbers are what we need.

Every politician who will oppose the Repubs must be elected, and all those who support Repubs must be defeated.

[MBS]

4. Exactly. n/t.