Freedom Line Blog

The chief knock on President Obama’s congressional management style is that he doesn’t have one. From the stimulus bill to health care “reform,” The One and advisors like David Axelrod are amazingly “aloof,” “disengaged,” or as Senator Al Franken (D-MN) put it in a closed door session this week, unwilling to provide leadership on how to close a deal. Franken was responding to Obama’s call to “finish the job” after which the latter gave no indication how to do it. According to reports, Franken’s frustration was shared by other senators.

The president’s hands-off approach seems odd for two reasons. First, it’s unusual for any politician to deflect an opportunity to take center stage, especially when the praise of passage would accrue to him. The other reason is that Obama is a Saul Alinsky disciple well versed in the master community organizer’s chief work, “Rules for Radicals.” One of the tenets of the book is “never go outside the experience of your people.” For a Democratic Senate without the presence of the late Ted Kennedy, that means don’t bank on any of the remaining 59 senators being able to negotiate and pass landmark legislation. None of them have a track record for doing it.

Then again, neither does Obama. The cold reality for activists like Franken is that those put in charge by the Left don’t have the experience, and frankly the ability, to get major legislation passed. That Ted Kennedy did so for decades without inspiring any of his fellow Democrats to take notes speaks to the single-minded emphasis of progressive strategists on getting power instead of figuring out how to use it. Republicans should take heed: it’s not enough to win because thereafter, you have to govern.