Full Plate, Or Spinning Plates?

One of the strategies of the American conservative groups lately - whether that be members of the rapidly-unraveling Republican party, or right-leaning media outlets like Fox News - has been to stir up fears that President Obama is trying to take on too much. If this were coming from people who might actually be concerned for his well-being or the welfare of their country, as opposed to the segment of the population whose defacto leader has repeatedly stated publicly that he "wants Obama to fail", then a reasonable person might have to give it some credence. However, it's pretty clear when you look at the contexts in which this latest protest meme has been raised that all it really represents is an attempt to slow Obama down as he works tirelessly to undo all of the damage George W. Bush caused to the U.S. over the past eight years. Conservatives don't think the President should be "adding to his already full plate" by re-empowering Science in general and stem cell research specifically. Really? How shocking! They're visibly and vocally apprehensive that Obama may be overloading himself by making noises about looking at carbon cap-and-trade initiatives to fight Climate Change. Wow! Who could have guessed that Republicans would react that way?

One of the saddest aspects of all this is that it once again showcases the hypocrisy that's epidemic within the party that had no problem with the last Commander-in-Chief starting up two wars at the same time as he systematically rolled back civil liberties and the advance of Science. Somehow they didn't have a problem with any of that happening simultaneously, even as it became increasingly apparent that Bush was largely incompetent at whatever tasks he undertook.

And maybe that's a contributing factor here. Eight years of sheer incompetence in the White House has probably left many Americans with the impression that their President really can't do very many things at once. Hence the "full plate" argument may actually resonate with more people than you'd expect. What's missing in that perspective, though, is the difference that competence and effective delegation make in a leader. George W. Bush had suffered on both fronts, including the fact that many of his critics viewed him as the delegate, taking his marching orders from Dick Cheney in his "undisclosed location" somewhere. Wherever tasks were handed down from Bush (or from Bush-via-Cheney), they were almost always dished off to some crony of the President's who'd been given a position based on favour-currying or political ideology. That's an excellent recipe for toadyism but not a very good one for success. As the results showed.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has consistently attempted to put the best person for the job into each position. He's certainly stumbled with some of his nominees (usually on income tax-related fronts) but in each case, the person's qualifications have seemed to be uppermost in the President's mind. His early anti-lobbyist provision demonstrated a clear break from the Bush approach of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse when it came to appointees. If he can get the right people into each role, then it goes from a full plate scenario to one of spinning plates.

A really good plate spinner can keep a lot of them going all at once, up on the ends of their little sticks, because he sets each in motion with a strong twist, and then moves on to the next one, only occasionally coming back to check on those already in motion (and sometimes to give them another bit of energy). Some will need more attention than others, but generally he can keep half a dozen or more going at the same time by carefully rationing out his time between them, according to need.

The best executives in companies work the same way. They hire excellent people below them, who in turn do the same thing again, and pretty soon you've got an organization with a hard-working, inspirational visionary at the top and a dedicated, energized group of people working with their leader to make that shared vision a reality. That's what I see when I watch and listen to Barack Obama lately. I don't see someone who's overwhelmed or at his wit's end, no matter how hard the conservatives try to paint that picture in everyone's minds. I see a man who knows what's needed to fix his sick country and is determined to get the best possible assistance in bringing his plan to fruition.

In this week's address, President Obama announces a couple of appointments related to food and drug safety in the U.S.. Will this cause a new chorus of "he should only be fixing the economy right now!" from the Right? Who knows, and who cares? It's just one more plate for him, and he's already starting it off with a good, strong twist.