December 8th, 2008
Obama’s Brand of Change
Folks are beginning to question what exactly President-elect Obama means by his campaign promise of “change” as he makes public his choices for key cabinet and White House posts. Aren’t these the same old faces, some ask, just more of the same around a different table?
But as Newsweek’s Howard Feinman points out in the current issue of the newsweekly:
It will soon fall to Obama to restore the world’s shattered confidence in the United States—in its ability to govern itself, revitalize its economy and lead the planet. Without that confidence, investors foreign and domestic will remain reluctant to plunge back into the American market. The consensus of the financial experts is that there is perhaps $3 trillion in cash sitting on the sidelines, much of that money in sovereign wealth funds in China, the Persian Gulf and Scandinavia. “We need a lot of that money back here,” says Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. “By hiring and associating with well-known, well-respected figures, Obama is saying to investors: It’s safe to come back. America knows what it’s doing.”
Brand Obama has been lauded and well documented. Point to a picture of our new president and ask people what one word comes to mind (the sign of a solid brand). The answer, 100% of the time, will be “change.” But change need not mean a changing of the guard or a game of decision-maker musical chairs. It can also mean a change in perception. Fineman calls this perception shift a move towards “rock solid competence,” a realignment of the perception of the United States as once again being a source of strength and stability, both at home and abroad.
Now that’s real change, change I can believe in.
Hi Lyn,
It’s a change in leadership style so radical that we don’t have good concepts to wrap around it. He’s bringing in technically experienced people but trying to unite them behind common interests, bracketing the ideological ideological interests. If Obama is as strong a leader as he seems to be, he will able to keep his team focused while keeping the populace focused on common needs. If he fumbles and lets his Cabinet bicker endlessly, the experiment fails and we’re in real trouble. I think he can do it.
The challenge Obama faces is that the consituencies that helped elect him helped set their own expectation for change. As he fills key positions with experienced centrists, he needs to keep the more radical elements — right and left — involved.
He also needs to quickly distance himself from those parts of his political history that scream “machine politician”, particularly as the indictments continue to roll in.
I am cautiously optimistic.