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| The Observer view on Obama and the limits of presidential power | The Observer view on Obama and the limits of presidential power |
| (7 months later) | |
| Six years ago, when Barack Obama ran for president, he did so on the back of two audacious claims – he would be the man to end the war in Iraq and he would heal the nation's glaring social and political divisions. Last week – in two disparate places, worlds apart, Ferguson, Missouri, and Iraq's Mount Sinjar – Obama was reminded, once again, of how difficult it has been to keep his campaign trail promises. | Six years ago, when Barack Obama ran for president, he did so on the back of two audacious claims – he would be the man to end the war in Iraq and he would heal the nation's glaring social and political divisions. Last week – in two disparate places, worlds apart, Ferguson, Missouri, and Iraq's Mount Sinjar – Obama was reminded, once again, of how difficult it has been to keep his campaign trail promises. |
| While Obama was able to bring US troops home from Iraq, he, like so many recent US presidents, has been sucked into yet another conflict there – and has found himself prisoner to events on the ground that he can only marginally control. | While Obama was able to bring US troops home from Iraq, he, like so many recent US presidents, has been sucked into yet another conflict there – and has found himself prisoner to events on the ground that he can only marginally control. |
| The challenge of healing America's political and social division has run even deeper and been far less successful. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Centre: "Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades." | The challenge of healing America's political and social division has run even deeper and been far less successful. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Centre: "Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades." |
| This mistrust is reshaping American politics and American governance. Politically engaged liberals and conservatives are more likely to see the other as threatening the "nation's wellbeing"; they are more likely to prefer living among fellow ideologues and are less inclined to compromise. This polarisation and the refusal to reach across the aisle (a phenomenon, it must be said, exhibited almost exclusively by Republicans) explains much of the dysfunction in Washington today. | This mistrust is reshaping American politics and American governance. Politically engaged liberals and conservatives are more likely to see the other as threatening the "nation's wellbeing"; they are more likely to prefer living among fellow ideologues and are less inclined to compromise. This polarisation and the refusal to reach across the aisle (a phenomenon, it must be said, exhibited almost exclusively by Republicans) explains much of the dysfunction in Washington today. |
| On the issue of race, which is America's original sin, the election of an African American president has not done nearly enough to improve race relations. By some accounts, Obama's victory made it worse. And last week's events in Ferguson are a reminder that the social inequities that challenge African Americans, from geographic segregation and economic inequality to police targeting and rampant bias, both conscious and unconscious, remain a pervasive element of US society. | On the issue of race, which is America's original sin, the election of an African American president has not done nearly enough to improve race relations. By some accounts, Obama's victory made it worse. And last week's events in Ferguson are a reminder that the social inequities that challenge African Americans, from geographic segregation and economic inequality to police targeting and rampant bias, both conscious and unconscious, remain a pervasive element of US society. |
| All this might seem like the ultimate indictment of Obama's presidency. On the surface, it is an indication of how little he has been able to accomplish and how unfulfilled his promises remain, nearly six years into his presidency. There are plenty on the right – and some on the left – who have and will make just this charge. But, if anything, it should be a more pungent reminder of precisely how little power the US president actually enjoys and the extent to which he or she is constrained by forces far outside their control. | All this might seem like the ultimate indictment of Obama's presidency. On the surface, it is an indication of how little he has been able to accomplish and how unfulfilled his promises remain, nearly six years into his presidency. There are plenty on the right – and some on the left – who have and will make just this charge. But, if anything, it should be a more pungent reminder of precisely how little power the US president actually enjoys and the extent to which he or she is constrained by forces far outside their control. |
| This might seem like a surprising conclusion, particularly when one considers the extraordinary pomp and circumstance that surround American presidents. Obama's every utterance and action is analysed to the minutest detail. When tragedies such as the shooting in Ferguson occur, no one looks to the speaker of the house to calm the nation. The next presidential election is more than two years away and already newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic are filled with speculation about Hillary Clinton and her potential Republican opponents. But this omnipresent focus on the presidency offers a distorted view of American politics. | This might seem like a surprising conclusion, particularly when one considers the extraordinary pomp and circumstance that surround American presidents. Obama's every utterance and action is analysed to the minutest detail. When tragedies such as the shooting in Ferguson occur, no one looks to the speaker of the house to calm the nation. The next presidential election is more than two years away and already newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic are filled with speculation about Hillary Clinton and her potential Republican opponents. But this omnipresent focus on the presidency offers a distorted view of American politics. |
| To be sure, US presidents are far from powerless. They can issue executive orders and implement federal laws, often as they see fit. They can influence debates in Congress, drive national attention toward a specific policy agenda and, perhaps most importantly, begin wars in faraway lands. | To be sure, US presidents are far from powerless. They can issue executive orders and implement federal laws, often as they see fit. They can influence debates in Congress, drive national attention toward a specific policy agenda and, perhaps most importantly, begin wars in faraway lands. |
| But just because a US president can wield America's awesome military might to start wars doesn't mean they can necessarily end them satisfactorily. Even while occupying Iraq with more than 100,000 troops, the US could not force Iraqi leaders to bend to their will. Obama has dealt with similar frustrations in trying to handle Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, even as more than 1,000 US troops have died to help keep him in office. | But just because a US president can wield America's awesome military might to start wars doesn't mean they can necessarily end them satisfactorily. Even while occupying Iraq with more than 100,000 troops, the US could not force Iraqi leaders to bend to their will. Obama has dealt with similar frustrations in trying to handle Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, even as more than 1,000 US troops have died to help keep him in office. |
| If Obama wanted to send troops to Iraq to wipe out the Islamic State (and it's unlikely he does), he would face sizable domestic opposition; he would be distracted from his oft-expressed goal of focusing on "nation-building" at home and, above all, he would have little reason to believe that such an action would bring success. It was hard enough just to get Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to surrender power, which happened last week, and only after Isis threatened more military gains. | If Obama wanted to send troops to Iraq to wipe out the Islamic State (and it's unlikely he does), he would face sizable domestic opposition; he would be distracted from his oft-expressed goal of focusing on "nation-building" at home and, above all, he would have little reason to believe that such an action would bring success. It was hard enough just to get Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to surrender power, which happened last week, and only after Isis threatened more military gains. |
| At home, Obama can preach the message of unity over and over – he did it again, ironically, last week when commenting on the situation in Ferguson. But there is little reason to believe it would have a dramatic impact. Indeed, the more he talks about reconciliation and pushes his political priorities, the more likely he is to receive a negative response fromRepublican partisans, even if they agree with him on the specifics. The American "bully pulpit" is often described as a tool for rallying the country, but it can just as often be a tool for furthering divisions. Moreover, the US president can lay out his issue agenda, travel the country advocating for it, cajole members of Congress, and if the opposition party wants nothing to do with it, then the president has no lever to force them to do his bidding. That's one fact this president and his Democratic allies need no reminder of. | At home, Obama can preach the message of unity over and over – he did it again, ironically, last week when commenting on the situation in Ferguson. But there is little reason to believe it would have a dramatic impact. Indeed, the more he talks about reconciliation and pushes his political priorities, the more likely he is to receive a negative response fromRepublican partisans, even if they agree with him on the specifics. The American "bully pulpit" is often described as a tool for rallying the country, but it can just as often be a tool for furthering divisions. Moreover, the US president can lay out his issue agenda, travel the country advocating for it, cajole members of Congress, and if the opposition party wants nothing to do with it, then the president has no lever to force them to do his bidding. That's one fact this president and his Democratic allies need no reminder of. |
| This is even truer on the issue of race, where the divides among whites and blacks are so ingrained that it would take a national exorcism to rid America of them. For all the millions who viewed Obama's election with great pride and believed that it signalled that the US was on the path to racial reconciliation, there was a significant minority that viewed Obama's win as a reason for trepidation and fear. | |
| Obama played his part in forming the mythology that exists around America's highest office. In his inaugural bid for the White House, he fed sky-high expectations about what he could achieve as president; as things didn't work out as he and his supporters hoped, he is now trying feverishly to roll back that perception. But without raising such hopes – and if he had been more honest about the challenges that come with implementing "hope and change" – Obama would likely still be a member of the US Senate. | Obama played his part in forming the mythology that exists around America's highest office. In his inaugural bid for the White House, he fed sky-high expectations about what he could achieve as president; as things didn't work out as he and his supporters hoped, he is now trying feverishly to roll back that perception. But without raising such hopes – and if he had been more honest about the challenges that come with implementing "hope and change" – Obama would likely still be a member of the US Senate. |
| Obama's presidency has been anything but six years of missed opportunities. For the passage of healthcare reform alone, his legacy is clear. But if he can remind his fellow citizens of both the limits of US power and the folly of believing one man (or woman) can singlehandedly remake a nation of 300 million distinct souls, he would be doing a genuine service to both America and the world. | Obama's presidency has been anything but six years of missed opportunities. For the passage of healthcare reform alone, his legacy is clear. But if he can remind his fellow citizens of both the limits of US power and the folly of believing one man (or woman) can singlehandedly remake a nation of 300 million distinct souls, he would be doing a genuine service to both America and the world. |
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