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Barack Obama must stop campaigning and start governing
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Oct 25, 2009 10:26pm |
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| Category | Editorial |
| Author | Toby Harnden |
| Media | Newspaper - Daily Telegraph |
| News Date | Saturday, October 24, 2009 09:55:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Perhaps we should not be surprised that the land of the permanent campaign has produced a president like Barack Obama. During his White House bid, Mr Obama's staff argued that his masterful oversight of the machinery that ultimately got him elected was his highest achievement.
In many respects this was true, though Mr Obama was more chairman than CEO. Even Republican political operatives acknowledge that the Obama '08 campaign was a thing of beauty.
Essentially, however, Mr Obama won because of his persona – post-racial, healing, cool, articulate and inspirational. In a sense, therefore, his greatest achievement in life is being Barack Obama. Or the campaign version, at least.
Therein lies the problem. While campaigning could centre around soaring rhetoric, governing is altogether messier. It involves tough, unpopular choices and cutting deals with opponents. It requires doing things rather than talking about them, let alone just being. |
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