One and done

Jodi Kantor's (The Obama's, 2011, Little, Brown and Company) inside look at the Obama White House and his marriage and family reinforces Republican concerns about his leadership capacity, but paints the First Family in a mostly positive light, humanizing a president who is too often aloof and professorial. It represents a tale of a power couple desperately tending to their family during a meteoric rise to the presidency and settling in to a White House where they made history by simply walking through the door. As a backdrop, its details the policy landscape the President navigated during the past three years, and it is this stewardship that seems most relevant for an election year where his record will be placed before the electorate.

Obama's early days as President can perhaps mostly aptly be described by the liquid courage that carried over from a euphoric campaign. The President and Michelle truly believed that he was above politics and need not be bothered by the nuances of the process or even extending an olive branch to his partner in political marriage at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. From the very beginning, he retreated to the advice and counsel of an insular group which was fractured by its own internal divisions. For instance, Rahm Emmanuel, ever the practical politician, preferred to continually "put points on the board," setting the stage for victory when the final whistle blew. The Obamas, on the other hand, opted for a Hail Mary on the first play from scrimmage.

Dysfunction was the end result, as the Administration lacked a coherent economic vision at a time of severe upheaval. Valerie Jarrett, a close friend with deep knowledge of the Chicago political scene, attempted to weave the often contradictory interests of the East and West Wings, but her loyalty to the Obama's and steep national learning curve proved a recipe for failure. Interesting enough, although much of the first and even second generation of the White House leadership team has since bid adieu, Jarrett remains in her pivotal position, continued evidence of a First Couple isolated from the country they lead.

Perhaps the most interesting foil centers on Barack and Michelle. Barack was the overachieving politico who rose from a backbencher in Springfield to the Oval Office in four years time. Michelle was the reluctant mother of two children, protective of her family, their marriage, and her husband in that order. She detested politics, seeking all-of-the-above solutions to persistent problems like childhood obesity. Barack, on the other hand, saw opportunities for transformational leadership through the embodiment of his own persona. His relentless push for health care reform, political capital costs aside, is arguably affirmation of this hubris.

Michelle struggled with even moving to Washington at the outset, but later embraced the bully pulpit provided by her position. Barack struggled to recreate the magic of his campaign, realizing that the experience on the trail failed to close the leadership deficit he possessed as a candidate. While the fate of Obamacare, his greatest policy achievement, remains unknown, Michelle's two pet causes (veterans and their families is the second) have gained traction and may in the end demonstrate greater impact.

The epitaph of this barrier-breaking administration will soon be written, and the First Couple should be commended for their remarkable relationship, attuned parenting, and the morally-sound ways they go about their lives. However, Kantor's inside view of a rudderless White House at a time of traumatic economic displacement, not to mention global security threats, is further evidence that a single term is more than sufficient.

Since Inauguration Day three years ago we experienced hope, at least at the outset, followed by disillusionment. Change has certainly surfaced, too, but mostly in the wrong direction. The verdict is in, and it the time has come to clean house and prepare for the next occupants.