TJP

Adrian Fenty is an Obama prototype. However, Obama could avoid a Fentian outcome by immediately recognizing and dealing with the dissatisfaction and disappointment of his base.

However, he has to accurately diagnose why his base is disappointed with his policies. Secondly, he has to implement policies that will make the base better off.

One of Fenty’s failures is that his base perceived that his policies did not make them better off. And, that he was aloof towards them.

Politics is simple. It is about satisfying constituencies. It is not about bipartisanship. Rather, politics is an adversarial system where opposing forces drive change.

However, Obama’s worldview is about getting along with the opposition. For instance, the opposition during the economic crisis was the bankers and the Bush administration solution to the crisis. The public intuitively understood that the Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis. Thus, why use their bank bailout scheme to solve the crisis.

The bailout should have gone to small business and homeowners; it would eventually get to the better run banks. Since, small business and homeowners would not store their monies under their pillows; they would deposit it in surviving banks.

Although Obama and the Democrats have passed significant legislations, there implementations and hence effects on the public are not immediate. Why pass center piece legislation, such as healthcare, if most of the provisions will not take effect immediately?

Obama’s advisors are ineffective; they have no vision and do not understand macroeconomics. They’re stuck on fiscal policy as the solution to economic crisis inherited from the Republicans; they have ignored immediate power of monetary policy to their peril.

Perhaps, they ignore monetary policy because they’ve no control over the Republican chairman of the Federal Reserve. Under the mantra of bipartisanship, the Republican Fed chairman was reappointed by Mr. Obama. His reappointment will rank as one of the biggest gift to the Republican Party.

The Federal Reserve is the government agency that regulates the nation’s banks and controls money supply. It is capable of forcing the banks to expand credit. It is their single-minded focus on controlling inflation that causes lack of credit and hence high unemployment.

Like Fenty, Obama appears not to understand the needs of his constituents. And, as long as he and his advisers continue to ignore the critical challenges faced by constituents a Fentian outcome awaits them.

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