Obama's Problematic Personality And His Failing Presidency

Something doesn't compute.  For years now, we've been hearing that Obama's M.O. was to work with his ideological opponents to get things done, and that one of the reasons Obama didn't get his more progressive plans through Congress is that he was so bent on bipartisanship that he kept compromising with the Republicans and waiting for them to get on board.  And now, we see this in the NYT:

It took President Obama 18 months to invite the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, to the White House for a one-on-one chat. Their Aug. 4 session in the Oval Office — 30 minutes of private time, interrupted only when the president’s daughter Malia called from summer camp to wish her father a happy 49th birthday — was remarkable, not for what was said, but for what it took to make it happen.

Not long before the meeting, Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate leader, lamented to his onetime Democratic counterpart, Tom Daschle, that Mr. Obama would never get an important nuclear arms treaty with Russia ratified until he consulted top Republicans. Mr. Lott, who recounted the exchange in an interview, was counting on Mr. Daschle, a close Obama ally, to convey the message; lo and behold, Mr. McConnell soon had an audience with the president.

The White House says the meeting was about stalled judicial nominations, not arms control. But the fact that a former Senate leader found it necessary to work back channels to put Mr. Obama and Mr. McConnell in touch suggests the difficult road the president will face if Republicans win control of one or both houses of Congress on Election Day.

Before Mr. Obama and Republicans can secure each other’s cooperation, people in both parties say, they must first figure out a way to secure mutual trust.

“Probably the biggest single promissory note he handed out during his campaign was the promise of trying to overcome Red America and Blue America into one America,” said Bill Galston, who worked as a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. “I think the perception is that he didn’t work as hard as he could have to redeem that note, and I can’t believe that he wants to go down in history as the president who promised to overcome polarization and ended up intensifying it.”

Unlike Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama is not much of a schmoozer, and some Republicans say he might benefit from becoming more of one. Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Mr. Obama has telephoned him just once, after he had lung surgery. “He needs to build friendships and he needs to build trust,” Mr. Johanns said.

Although Mr. Obama has hosted cocktail hours and parties at the White House for members of Congress, he is not the type to spend his free time socializing with lawmakers. While personal relationships cannot erase philosophical differences, they can help, which is one reason Mr. [Trent] Lott, the former Republican leader, pushed privately for Mr. McConnell and Mr. Obama to meet.

“You know, Clinton, we used to talk to each other all the time, through back channels, middle of the day, middle of the night,” Mr. Lott said. “He’d call at 11 o’clock, 2 o’clock at night; I’d go up to the family quarters and have coffee with him at 9:15 in the morning. They’ve got to open up communications — and not for press purposes. They’ve got to talk quietly, privately. That’s Step 1 in Washington.”

What?! It would have been common courtesy, and politically a very wise thing, to at least sit down fairly soon with one of your two primary adversaries in the Congress, in order to have a little personal chemistry going.  We all know how that works.   Wasn't this the President who was renowned for his working with his opponents? This doesn't make any sense to me.  It ties in with another post I wrote here linking to the NYT Magazine article on Obama and his introversion.

I'm coming to believe that Obama is 'temperamentally' unsuited to be an effective President. (It reminds me more and more of the personality failings of Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.)  His 'philosopher-king' personality doesn't lend itself to legislative success, which depends upon reaching out to the other leaders/holders of power in the government. He is too much the introvert and the loner to do that.  This for me is a new angle and understanding on why his Presidency is failing.