What is Obama’s back-to-work plan?

WASHINGTON — It’s “back to school” week for President Obama, after what a CNN analyst called “the vacation from Hell.” So perhaps it’s a good time to examine what’s been going wrong for Obama recently and whether he can fix it.

The common complaint of late is that Obama is “disengaged.” This has always been somewhat of an issue, given his reticent public style, but the criticism intensified during his Martha’s Vineyard holiday. It’s an odd critique: Obama works at least as diligently as George W. Bush did during his frequent trips to Texas. Even during this golf-besotted vacation, Obama seemed to spend a good part of most days dealing with crises, foreign and domestic.

Obama could have saved himself some political trouble by scuttling the vacation altogether, but I’m not sure that would have benefited the country, to say nothing of his family.

It’s often suggested that Obama should invite more politicians, such as House Speaker John Boehner, to join his famous golf outings. But would that really help? Even if the two became BFFs on the links, it’s doubtful that Boehner could forge bipartisanship among a House Republican caucus terrified by the tea party.

Certainly Obama could communicate better. But as he has learned, giving speeches and more frequent news conferences doesn’t necessarily move the needle of public support. Six years into his presidency, Obama turns a lot of people off. Even a fine speech (such as his remarks after the beheading of journalist James Foley) can set the stage for a paroxysm about his insensitivity in playing golf afterward. Obama probably thought he was doing the right thing in showing that the president couldn’t be brutalized into changing his routine. It was an understandable decision, but a wrong one.

Obama has also drawn flak for what were seen as dispassionate remarks after the slaying of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson, Mo. Here again, I suspect Obama was doing what he thought was presidential — trying to speak for all the country. But Ferguson showed how precarious that middle ground can be.

The truth about the disengaged Obama is that he has probably stopped caring what most critics say about his performance. A few months ago, during his Asia trip, he mused aloud during a news conference about complaints that his foreign policy was weak, asking critics such as Sen. John McCain and hawkish editorial writers: What do you want me to do? Repeat the mistakes of the past?

Obama today seems to ignore what his detractors think. Part of his detached style comes from the fact that he’s stubborn. He doesn’t like to be jammed, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu learned when he tried to push Obama on Iran policy during a vulnerable period in September 2012, shortly before the presidential election. Obama listens to criticism and then, at a certain point, the switch flips off. He stops shadowboxing with critics.

Obama appears to have reached this tipping point of disinterest in his dealings with Congress. He’s sick of their whining and feuding. As The New York Times reported, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pleaded in June for help in clearing ambassadorial nominations. Obama reportedly dumped the problem back in the lap of Reid and his Republican counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell, saying: “You and Mitch work it out.”

I suspect Obama is so sick of congressional inaction — and of the bad blood between Reid and McConnell that helped cripple his legislative agenda — that he wants to wash his hands of the mess. Unfortunately, that isn’t really an option for Obama’s remaining two years in office: Disdain isn’t a governing strategy.

Aloofness works for European leaders. Think of Charles de Gaulle or Francois Mitterrand in France, or Angela Merkel in Germany. But America, with its democratic ethos, likes warmer politicians. Even genuine aristocrats such as Franklin D. Roosevelt had to pretend to be common men.

What’s Obama’s plan as he returns to school for fall? Recently, he has seemed to adopt the strategy of a student who’s tired of being bullied: Work hard; make decisions; ignore criticism to the extent possible; hope for new friends and a change of luck.

This careful, passive strategy might be acceptable in a world that was benign and forgiving of mistakes. But to recover in the remaining years of his crisis-plagued presidency, Obama will need to take a riskier, more aggressive approach.

Email davidignatius@washpost.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

THis is an editorial cartoon by Michael de Adder . Michael de Adder was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He studied art at Mount Allison University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting. He began his career working for The Coast, a Halifax-based alternative weekly, drawing a popular comic strip called Walterworld which lampooned the then-current mayor of Halifax, Walter Fitzgerald. This led to freelance jobs at The Chronicle-Herald and The Hill Times in Ottawa, Ontario.

 

After freelancing for a few years, de Adder landed his first full time cartooning job at the Halifax Daily News. After the Daily News folded in 2008, he became the full-time freelance cartoonist at New Brunswick Publishing. He was let go for political views expressed through his work including a cartoon depicting U.S. President Donald Trump’s border policies. He now freelances for the Halifax Chronicle Herald, the Toronto Star, Ottawa Hill Times and Counterpoint in the USA. He has over a million readers per day and is considered the most read cartoonist in Canada.

 

Michael de Adder has won numerous awards for his work, including seven Atlantic Journalism Awards plus a Gold Innovation Award for news animation in 2008. He won the Association of Editorial Cartoonists' 2002 Golden Spike Award for best editorial cartoon spiked by an editor and the Association of Canadian Cartoonists 2014 Townsend Award. The National Cartoonists Society for the Reuben Award has shortlisted him in the Editorial Cartooning category. He is a past president of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists and spent 10 years on the board of the Cartoonists Rights Network.
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, July 6

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

A Volunteers of America Western Washington crisis counselor talks with somebody on the phone Thursday, July 28, 2022, in at the VOA Behavioral Health Crisis Call Center in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Dire results will follow end of LGBTQ+ crisis line

The Trump administration will end funding for a 988 line that serves youths in the LGBTQ+ community.

FILE — The journalist Bill Moyers previews an upcoming broadcast with staffers in New York, in March 2001. Moyers, who served as chief spokesman for President Lyndon Johnson during the American military buildup in Vietnam and then went on to a long and celebrated career as a broadcast journalist, returning repeatedly to the subject of the corruption of American democracy by money and power, died in Manhattan on June 26, 2025. He was 91. (Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times)
Comment: Bill Moyers and the power of journalism

His reporting and interviews strengthened democracy by connecting Americans to ideas and each other.

Brooks: AI can’t help students learn to think; it thinks for them

A new study shows deeper learning for those who wrote essays unassisted by large language models.

Do we have to fix Congress to get them to act on Social Security?

Thanks to The Herald Editorial Board for weighing in (probably not for… Continue reading

Comment: Keep county’s public lands in the public’s hands

Now pulled from consideration, the potential sale threatened the county’s resources and environment.

Comment: Companies can’t decide when they’ll be good neighbors

Consumers and officials should hold companies accountable for fair policies and fair prices.

Comment: State’s new tax on digital sales ads unfair and unwise

Washington’s focus on chasing new tax revenue could drive innovation and the jobs to other states.

toon
Editorial: Using discourse to get to common ground

A Building Bridges panel discussion heard from lawmakers and students on disagreeing agreeably.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, June 27, 2025. The sweeping measure Senate Republican leaders hope to push through has many unpopular elements that they despise. But they face a political reckoning on taxes and the scorn of the president if they fail to pass it. (Kent Nishimura/The New York Times)
Editorial: GOP should heed all-caps message on tax policy bill

Trading cuts to Medicaid and more for tax cuts for the wealthy may have consequences for Republicans.

Alaina Livingston, a 4th grade teacher at Silver Furs Elementary, receives her Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic for Everett School District teachers and staff at Evergreen Middle School on Saturday, March 6, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: RFK Jr., CDC panel pose threat to vaccine access

Pharmacies following newly changed CDC guidelines may restrict access to vaccines for some patients.

Forum: Protecting, ensuring our freedoms in uncertain times

Independence means neither blind celebration nor helpless despair; it requires facing the work of democracy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.