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In looking back at past presidents, it’s interesting to look at how they viewed their presidency and their relation with the public, whether it was like Teddy Roosevelt who saw himself as being in the bully pulpit and guiding public opinion or other presidents who merely sought to lead by listening to the people and doing what the people wanted.  I think that perhaps, if the president has a strong vision of what he would like to accomplish, being more like Teddy Roosevelt would be the most effective and beneficial.  But for a president, who doesn’t have much in the way of a vision, perhaps doing just as the people want would be the easiest because then they have goals to accomplish and have the popular mandate of the people.

For Obama, who has a very strong vision of what he would like to accomplish, and who was elected because the people wanted a change and wanted him to accomplish something, I think that it would be good to do both.  Part of the problem he faces is the fact that he tries to make everyone happy. He wants to do everything while at the same time make everyone happy. I don’t think that that is possible unless he guides popular opinion.  As Michael said in his blog post, Obama will continue to face criticism from both sides of the aisle if he tries to befriend Republicans and Democrats with the same policies.  Obama sure came in with a lot of support form the left but that support seems to be dwindling as many feel that he isn’t doing enough, quickly enough. He promised all sorts of change as soon as he was elected but very little has been seen, or at least insubstantial change has been seen. The right hasn’t supported him very much, and so with the fading left, he seems to be loosing his support base all together. Without it, I think it will be very hard for him to do much of what he would like to do, as he won’t have the popular mandate of the people anymore.  So, I think that Obama needs to work harder at maintaining support from his own party and to focus less on trying to gain everyone’s support on all issues. It just isn’t going to happen.  Perhaps later he can focus on the conservatives that don’t support him, but for now, without change occurring as quickly as many would like, he needs to act quickly to prevent his support from being eaten away by the tide of time.

Many of the changes what Obama wants to implement I think are sorely needed in our country. I think that he has a good plan, but without being able to guide the public and maintain support, very little of it will he be able to accomplish.  I think that Obama should take on Woodrow Wilson or Teddy Roosevelt as a role model and work towards influencing public opinion. Of course it takes a special kind of person and a certain time, but with the growing need for change within this country, and the amount of hope that our country has in Obama, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say the he is capable of doing it. If he were to focus on what he wants to accomplish, and were to work at convincing the public that that is exactly what needs to be done, I think that he would be a more effective president and would be able to enact the change that our country needs. He then wouldn’t need everyone’s support initially and would gain it as he gained popularity and became the leader of public opinion.

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