Professor: Obama needs to gain Congress’ trust

‘ ‘ ‘ This January, Sen. Barack Obama will make history when he is sworn in as the first… ‘ ‘ ‘ This January, Sen. Barack Obama will make history when he is sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States. ‘ ‘ ‘ The grueling campaign trail that began back in May 2007, when the Democratic senator from Illinois first announced his candidacy, finally ended yesterday when the American people elected Obama to spearhead the change he says our country needs. ‘ ‘ ‘ But are Obama’s chances at making a significant difference in our nation’s economic, social and political situations as likely as some had hoped? According to some people, his race has just begun. After the inauguration, however, presidential power should be at its height for Obama, based on historical evidence of a phenomenon referred to as the ‘presidential honeymoon.’ For the first six to 12 months of Obama’s presidency, he will experience especially high levels of cooperation from Congress to match what should prove to be especially high approval ratings. There is a catch, though. While Obama’s approval ratings might be high because of a newly won election, a newly inducted president is also a naive president.’ Krause explains this ‘tension of the president’ as the idea that presidents are ‘most influential when they walk in, but least capable of governing because they’re new to the job and they don’t know what it entails.’ Yet as the president gains experience as head of the state, his political influence decreases. According to Krause, the key to Obama’s early success is to work with his counterparts in Congress to deal with the economic crisis. ‘The economy is perhaps the most important factor. A bad economy will weaken the president in the eyes of Congress,’ said Krause. ‘Bush’s economy has slowed and affected his approval ratings. The economy is the strongest predictor we have of whether people approve or disapprove of a president’s performance.’ History professor Laurence Glasco agrees that the economy will be Obama’s and the nation’s toughest challenge and said that the remedy will not come easily. ‘People are going to have to adjust their lifestyles, and that’s not popular ‘hellip; there’s going to be some serious pain,’ said Glasco. He added that it is unfortunate that the campaigns did not educate the public about the sacrifices that need to be made, like significant cuts in borrowing and changes in taxes and savings. Adding more to Obama’s load is the idea that the Democrats anticipate carrying the brunt of the challenge. As a Democratic president facing a Democratic Congress, Obama is expected to deliver a certain level of consistency to the legislative branch. If he fails to deliver the predicted gain, Congress members will feel less of an obligation to the president, and his honeymoon period will be shortened, said Krause. A specialist in race and ethnicity, Glasco said Obama’s presidential honeymoon will also be determined in large part by the black intellectual community. While it has so far refrained from pressuring Obama for an agenda to cater to black people, Glasco said the intellectual community will be less patient than the general black public for Obama to formalize his support of the minority race. But Obama simply cannot take that stand and be an effective president, said Glasco. ‘It’s very nerve-racking to think about,’ said Glasco. ‘A lot of whites are nervous about a black president. They’re concerned with how they will be treated by a black president, whether there will potentially be any sort of revenge for history.’ A better route would be to advocate more directly for the working class, which would then help a large portion of the black community, Glasco said.’ He added that the fact that Obama has won support across the nation’s diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds shows that Americans are working to overcome their prejudices. ‘We need a black president to show he can be president of all the people, to transcend race as we’ve asked whites to do,’ said Glasco. Because of this, Glasco added, Obama will be limited in his appointments and might even have less of an opportunity than Bush did to place influential blacks in his cabinet. Obama’s most immediate pressure could come in the form of cabinet appointments. Krause’s and Glasco’s analysis indicates that the president-elect must exercise prudence in his selections in an effort to maintain a healthy honeymoon.