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On Economy, Obama's Micromanager-in-Chief

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 12, 2009 7:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – Past presidents have taken a big-picture approach to domestic policy, but Barack Obama is different—every day, he wrestles with the smallest details of health care, employment, and financial regulation. At the White House daily economic briefing, a new ritual modeled on intelligence seminars, the president peppers advisers with questions and delves deep into the minutiae of economic affairs. The Wall Street Journal looks at the merits and flaws of a micromanaging presidency.

In briefings, Obama often pushes for more views. Last month, for example, in a meeting about derivatives regulation, Obama told his team, "Get me some other people's opinions on this. I want more than what's in this room," Rahm Emanuel tells the Journal. The result, the paper says, can be paradoxical: an ambitious agenda dialed down by last-minute caution. "He's thinking big," says one observer, "but being cautious." Says one CEO who met with the president, he's spending too much time on issues like executive compensation: "If we spend too much time focusing on things like this, we are just going to get this vast mediocrity where things don't move ahead."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner looks towards President Barack Obama as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Senior White House Advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett both attend the president's daily economic briefing. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Barack Obama receives an economic briefing this March at the White House. With him are Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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He knows the issues at significant depth, I don't doubt that. Whether he's come to the right conclusion, I'd argue with. - Judd Gregg, Republican senator and briefly an Obama cabinet nominee

If the two risks are operating at too generalized a level or micromanaging, you need to find a balance between the two. - Peter Orszag, White House budget director

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

serfinWI

Aug 12, 2009 4:59 AM CDT

Guess he has to study the issues because he didn't know them before and during his run for the presidency. He has to study them, because he has absolutely NO EXPERIENCE for the job. I wouldn't have hired him to be my lawyer, much less President. He has no real life business experience. He's a confused silver spooner trying to act like the little guy, drinking a beer, ha! To use an analogy, he is the abusive husband, lying over and over to his abused wife (his loyal followers) that he'll be better the next time, sweet talking his way back into her life and getting her to stay. How long will it take for the wife to get out? You don't have to continue supporting him. Get out now! Support some sane Democrat. You should be very, very afraid.

serfinWI

Aug 12, 2009 4:49 AM CDT

Sounds like a description of a Chicago mob boss.

serfinWI

Aug 12, 2009 4:48 AM CDT

Yes, he needs help for his narcissistic personality disorder. Check it out in DSM (Psychiast's bible) He fits it to a T.

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Rahm Emanuel • domestic policy • presidential adviser • Obama administration • President Obama

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