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Can Obama keep his promises? |
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Written by the Editorial Board
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Sunday, 25 January 2009 |
As we celebrate the inauguration of the first black president (and the end of the term of one of the nation’s most unpopular), Barack Obama not only faces two wars and an economic crisis, but an incredible number of promises he made to the American people while on the campaign trail.
Obama made more than 500 promises during the run-up to the election, according to the St. Petersburg Times “Obameter.” This is significantly higher than presidents Bill Clinton (204) or George W. Bush (177) during their presidential campaigns. Any reasonable person will admit that it would be near impossible for Obama to keep all those promises, and imprudent to try. After all, the world is a different place than it was when he started making promises at the campaign’s start almost two years ago, and, given the recent economic crisis, the world even is a different place than it was when he became the Democratic nominee.
Any reasonable person will admit that it would be near impossible for Obama to keep all those promises.That doesn’t change the fact that Obama has set extraordinarily high expectations for his presidency, and a politically savvy audience will be watching his every move. Even if he is able to fulfill half of the promises he made, critics will still regard him as being unable to deliver on what he told the American people he would do. And the near-messianic way in which many of the new president’s followers view him will make it difficult for him to satisfy them all – especially if he does not follow through on each of his promises. Pragmatism and idealism are not typically compatible.
Since his reputation as the president of change was mostly, if not entirely, his own doing, Obama will have a difficult time convincing those who revere him that there is only so much he can do once in office. For every unfulfilled promise, his reputation will take a hit, and a damaged reputation could make even substantial success look like abject failure for Obama.
The American people love to hear promises from their political candidates, and those promises are what elections are built upon. But with such an unreasonable number on the table, Obama should take care in choosing his priorities, because many who voted for him will be scrutinizing every step.
Voters may love hearing promises, but that also makes them a force to be reckoned with when they go unfulfilled.
[PolitiFact.com, PolitiFact.com2, Front Page Image from BarackObama.com]
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