Who knew it could get so lonely so fast in the Oval Office?
Two weeks ago he was the toast of the town, awash in bipartisan bonhomie, surrounded by inaugural well-wishers.
Today President Barack Obama must be wondering whom he can trust.
Certainly not the helpers who were supposed to screen nominees for Cabinet-level positions. Several nominees have been delayed, or forced to withdraw, due to “mistakes” on their income taxes. And certainly not top Democratic congressional leaders, who are showing once more why they achieved next to nothing in the two years since they achieved their dual Capitol majority.
To be sure, early setbacks in seating a Cabinet and passing an economic stimulus package aren’t exactly a “Bay of Pigs” moment for Obama. That, of course, was John F. Kennedy’s epiphany about the advisers who told him the Cuban people would rise against Fidel Castro if the U.S. would support an amphibious landing by anti-communist irregulars. The invasion flopped and Kennedy got new advisers.
It is way too soon to ask, say, Rahm Emanuel, to pack up his things. Heck, the former North Side congressman has barely moved into his chief-of-staff suite next to the Oval. You don’t pull a pitcher just because he gets roughed up in the first inning. The third inning, maybe.
It also would be terribly awkward to support a palace coup in the House against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Tempting, perhaps, given her shrill manner and left-of-San-Francisco politics, but awkward nonetheless.
Same goes for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has a severe charisma deficit but is not without accomplishment. He has, for instance, kept the nation’s growing supply of spent but still highly radioactive nuclear fuel out of Nevada, where it was supposed to be safely stored. So the stuff keeps piling up in urban population centers, such as northern Illinois. How’s that for leadership?
Yes, it’s way too soon to shake things up. But for a young, dynamic president out to create change and end partisan gridlock, it’s not too soon to begin thinking about a possible Plan B. He might even put a few discreet feelers out there to see if people with other talents and fewer liabilities might be available in a pinch.
The president might even start imagining a “Help wanted” list:
Help wanted: A less cynical White House chief of staff. Applicants must not be so jaded as to assume a former senator such as Tom Daschle would (wink, wink) be approved by his former Senate buddies for secretary of health and human services. Applicants also should not have become wealthy consulting to the very industries over which they could have regulatory powers (as did Daschle.) Nor shall applicants have acted as rainmakers for companies that profit from government deregulation (as did Emanuel, when the investment firm where he worked helped finance the deal by which Commonwealth Edison begat its unregulated, but highly profitable, holding company.)
Help wanted: A pragmatic House speaker. Applicants must not be so giddily partisan as to salt a vital piece of legislation, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a.: the stimulus bill), with liberal goodies — however meritorious — guaranteed to infuriate the other side of the aisle. Examples to be avoided include new millions for birth-control services or for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. It is the economy we’re trying to stimulate.
Help wanted: An effective Senate majority leader. Applicants must possess the big picture of what’s at stake — lead by example and don’t be preoccupied with the parochial. Examples to be avoided include letting Big Labor graft a controversial “Buy American” requirement onto the stimulus bill, or a waiver that would let Las Vegas casinos modify their troubled bank loans without paying a tax penalty.
No, you couldn’t blame a dynamic young president for imagining how his new programs might be better pursued and implemented. Or for making some changes if his team isn’t getting it done.
But it’s early. And a good manager must show faith in his players, whatever his private doubts.
Then again, it couldn’t hurt to have a few substitutes warming up.
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John McCarron teaches, writes and consults on urban affairs.
