newjerseynewsroom.com

BY STEVE ADUBATO

COMMENTARY

I’m as happy as anyone that the federal government has averted a debt crisis which had the potential of wreaking economic havoc, not only on Wall Street, but on Main Street. If this deal to raise the debt limit had failed, the feds would have had some tough choices to make about who to pay and who to stiff. Do you pay military employees, or senior citizens waiting for a social security check? I wouldn’t want to have to make that call.

Hopefully we have also averted a downgrade in the federal government’s bond rating, which has a huge impact on our ability to borrow money. But even though things could have been worse, there are no real winners in any of this. For me, one of the most disappointing story lines involved President Barack Obama. I voted for Obama. I was taken in by his charismatic oratory and his promise of reform in Washington and bringing “change” to the beltway. I was really hopeful, as were millions of other Americans.

But here’s the thing about the President that’s become painfully clear, particularly in the debt crisis. He is a much better political candidate and campaigner than he is a Chief Executive. My sense is that Obama has convinced himself that if he can give just one more speech, or hold one more press conference, he can persuade others to go along with him. But that’s not the way negotiating works. Great negotiators, in fact great leaders, get their hands dirty. They don’t delegate the details of a deal, they get in there. They personally pick up the phone and have face to face meetings on a regular basis at all hours of the night to get reluctant members of Congress to go along.