Organizing for America | Emma's Blog: Change from a Bubble

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Change from a Bubble

By Emma - Mar 24th, 2009 at 3:27 pm EDT

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Tags: bubble, communication, Tonight Show

Can you make change from within a bubble?

President Obama spoke of the bubble he and his family now lives in, as he visited the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This bubble is contained and reinforced by the necessary security precautions and the political and diplomatic limitations that are always essential to any Presidency. But for no other US President I can think of, has change been so important and so desperately needed than for President Obama. So perhaps now more than ever this question becomes riddled with the most dire of consequences; can a President actually accomplish change, living in a bubble?

I don't propose any answer to this question, I really don't know. I suppose time will tell. But as I watch President Obama struggle with every challenge, fighting for every inch, I can't help wonder just how effective he's likely to be.

I've always attached a large dose of realism (some would say cynicism) to my faith and belief in Barack Obama. I've never believed he could make miracles happen and never had any doubt his journey would be difficult, bordering on impossible. Frankly I'll be happy as long as he can survive these four to eight years as President. But I partly appreciate, partly dread, his seemingly desperate attempts to step outside the restraints of his bubble, the interview on a talk show being an obvious example. The bubble is there for a reason, and pushing it beyond its breaking point could literally kill him. But it could also give the air of a President that is desperate, trapped and unfocused. I just hope he doesn't let the bubble get to him, or allow his emotions regarding it push him in a dangerous direction.

It's nice though, to finally see a US President trying to actually communicating with his people. But there's always the risk that too many news cycles become focused on dissecting his every word. Failure to communicate will of course be criticized as well, but it's easier to avoid dangerous mistakes if you hide, as the previous President did, as opposed to having to spend several days explaining every joke you've made and justifying every word.

Communicating at this level, at this time in human history, is perhaps the most difficult of balancing acts. I appreciate his efforts but worry it might come back and bite him. As President every word counts, much more so than during the election, during his time as Senator or at any other time as a mere mortal. As a US President he has unimaginable power and every news agency in the world will work hard trying to figure out if there's any hidden meaning to what he's saying or what his words might mean to them. Sitting down and having a casual and relaxed chat with a talk show host might be far riskier than President Obama and his staff seems to realize.

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