Barack Obama’s leadership style suits these turbulent times

By Ed Griffin-Nolan
The swollen, grateful, jubilant eyes of Jesse Jackson watching Barack Obama take the stage on Election Night was the picture that kept filling my mind as the days wore on.
Many of the younger generation may not fully appreciate the foundation Jackson laid for the Obama triumph, but in those eyes that have seen so much blood and could now cry tears of joy, we could see the arc of history. The agony of the Hotel Lorraine balcony in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” run for the presidency in 1988. The post-millennial crowds filling Grant Park in Chicago last Tuesday night, Nov. 4.

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Jackson’s better days may be behind him, but in his two presidential runs he paved a path for Obama to follow. He bridged the gap in the public consciousness from the civil rights movement to full political empowerment for anyone regardless of race, and through a cynical time kept the notion alive that people’s movements do matter. For many he served as the custodian of hope through a political time governed by fear. One element of Obama’s political genius is that he succeeded in marrying the emotion and spiritual power of a movement to the necessary, less inspiring machinery of electoral politics. Doing so, he achieved a blend of corporate culture with the innate desire that people have for something and someone to believe in, to work for.
Obama will need all the help he can get. The transition time will go by in a flash, and his picks for key posts will start coordinating with their predecessors in a way that hasn’t happened since Franklin Roosevelt’s team worked with the outgoing Hoover administration to craft banking regulations in the Depression winter of 1933.
It is customary for presidents-elect, in their acceptance speech, to remind the world that there is only one president at a time. In a nod to the urgency of the times, Obama omitted this perfunctory line. With the economy in recession, the war in Afghanistan going badly, and even the Iraqis wanting us out of Iraq, there is little time to be wasted. The transition is now. Let the word go forth.
Obama also made clear that it will not be easy. Food fights will emerge among disparate elements of the Democratic coalition. The ceaseless harping of right-wing radioheads will not cease. The challenges won’t go away by themselves, no matter how enthusiastic the crowds, no matter how brilliant the oratory. The new president said in his acceptance speech that he will be calling for a new spirit of sacrifice among the American people. This was a welcome change from what passed for leadership after Sept. 11, 2001, when President George Bush encouraged us to go to the mall, to defeat al-Qaeda with MasterCard and Visa. The warranty on that wisdom has clearly expired.

But it will be up to us to respond when the real sacrifices are spelled out in black and white. For the reality is that not only do we face two wars, an energy crisis, global warming and a financial meltdown. We also face the reality that Bush, the great conservative, went and spent all our money, turning a surplus inherited from none other than Bill Clinton into a record deficit.
The reality is that Obama will probably be known as the second consecutive Democratic president to spend his term paying his Republican predecessor’s bills. Just as Clinton had to trim his social agenda to bring fiscal accountability back to Washington, Obama, one day soon, will have to call us in to the kitchen table to have the talk at which he explains to a hurting nation that it’s time to tighten our belt. Treasured goals may have to be postponed. Tough priority decisions will have to be made. Then the hard work will begin.
On Election Night, from voters across the city and the county, I heard one word used to describe Obama over and over again. The word was cool. Not cool like hip or with it, but cool like steady and unflappable. Spoken with adulation by Democrats and begrudgingly by Republicans, it nonetheless seemed like a nearly unanimous verdict. This guy stays calms, holds to his message and keeps on keepin’ on. Through the pressure of the debates, the attack ads, and the unexpected twists and turns of the long campaign, Obama never seemed to lose his cool.
Facing formidable opponents in both his party and among the Republicans, he was seen as having the demeanor and the intelligence to state the facts and advance his argument.
It may be that we have found ourselves a leader who actually can lead. That may be the reason for the smile behind Jesse Jackson’s tear-filled eyes.