I'm actually serious here -- anyone who has held a management position knows that you have to have some kind of vision for the organization, a place where you think it is going, in order to do a good job. Even if that vision is, "Keep things pretty much the same, because we're doing great," you have to have some kind of vision.
I read articles like Krugman's latest, and I genuinely don't know what Barack Obama's vision is.
Even more alarming, however, is her window on what the White House is thinking:
It all goes back to the “shellacking” Obama took in the 2010 elections. The President’s political advisers studied the numbers and concluded that the voters wanted the government to spend less. This was an arguable interpretation. Nevertheless, the political advisers believed that elections are decided by middle-of-the-road independent voters, and this group became the target for determining the policies of the next two years.
Ok, I understand that 2010 was a bit disconcerting for someone of Obama's supreme self-possession. Barack Obama and his people never, ever have a Plan B, because it never occurs to them that Plan A might not work out. So when Plan A of "pass a too-small stimulus then talk it up and wait for a miracle to happen" didn't pan out, there was a lot of chickens with no head action.
But so far as I can tell, Barack Obama's vision is that there is a Democrat in the White House and Republicans largely dictate policy. And . . . that's it. So far as I can tell, Barack Obama shares a vision with his supporters on this site -- that Barack Obama is President, and he's bipartisan, and . . . that's it.
So, is that President Obama's vision? That Barack Obama is President, and he gets deals no matter what he has to give up and . . . that's it?
Because if that's so, then we're in big trouble if he wins in 2012. Because he'll already have absolutely everything he wants.