Barack Obama is an "organizer." This is the term he used to describe himself. I believe that when one looks closely at the rhetoric that presidents, and others, use to describe themselves you open up a valuable way of predicting their behaviors and motivations. I maintain that an organizer falls far short of a leader of a movement.
I believe that Obama sees himself as a very linear-rational thinker with a powerful mind. I agree that he is. He's very bright. Plenty of people are bright, and Reagan, Bush and Bush all demonstrated that a person need not be bright to be President. This means that among other things he's a directional thinker. He knows what he wants to achieve and he moves forward in a methodical manner. That's the way our teachers and our parents, hopefully, encouraged us to think. It's certainly the manner of thinking that is rewarded in the workplace. The workplace loves this way of thinking because it helps render outcomes more predictable; a person, proceeding with a model, takes measured steps toward achieving an end. Sounds good, right?
It is good unless your job is, in part, to be a visionary. For all the talk of "Hope" and "We Can" and blah-ditty, blah, blah that Obama pumped out in his 2008 presidential race, his rhetoric AS PRESIDENT has failed. He went from visionary candidate back to being the organizer he was before he became a senator. His talk of conciliation and balancing left and right interests were all dead on arrival. While some may have though it part of some brilliant strategy, you (and I) have been let down. This wasn't strategy - it was an idiotic vision that sought to bring left and right together. Problem with that is, it assumes the problems people have stem from a lack of agreement between people who have opposing views of government. THAT IS IDIOTIC. It also assumes that people weren't getting along in Congress because someone like Obama hadn't come along and taught them how yet. HOW RIDICULOUS! They weren't getting along because they DON'T AGREE!!!!
So, instead of a "organizing," motivating people to achieve and materialize the scale of change you implied would happen was your job. You needed to fight. You needed to draw contrasts between yourself and the GOP. While you were setting up Super Bowl parties, they were kicking you in the nuts. You brought it on yourself.
Be a rhetorical president. Quit with this realist shit that you do; the "Well, look..." crap is old already. "A thousand points of light" are more inspiring than your dry recitations with a tiny twinge of Southern-style black flair. The pride of electing a black president has worn thin and people need jobs and inspiration. Create your own coalition. Create a vision. Encourage us to join you there. Or, you can take us either on a 2-year jaunt to the next Republican presidency, or hold on for ego's-sake by following the Clinton rope-a-dope model.
Please lead.