The Great Organizer?

From the very infancy of his presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama candidly boasted his roots as a great community organizer. His supporters persistently echoed the call that Mr. Obama's great charisma and talents would usher in a new age of peace and international cooperation led by the man who would "protect community interests," "challenge [current] authorities," and be the great "bridge builder." Indeed they pounded the media drum in a thundering march to his victory in November 2008.

Looking back though, it was pretty clear that he was missing executive management experience. This is what made his experience as a community organizer so important. It seems that he with the help of his supporters had to establish his leadership credibility and do so in the eyes of voters. This was an essential element of the Democratic campaign and it was very effective. He simply lacked executive bullets on his resume.

There was no dispute on election night, November 4th, 2008, that Senator Barack Obama was to be the next President of the United States in 77 days. There was no wait and no delay unlike the previous two presidential elections. The great community organizer could begin organizing his community of government.

All the while, in the background, we remain in the midst of a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is gravely serious to appoint and mobilize a National Security Council to deal with the important issues that face the nation. Of all the virtues of transition, continuity is foremost. Discontinuity is dangerous and might result in the loss of lives.

Midway through February 2009, President Obama issued Presidential Decision Directive 1 (PDD-1) establishing his Principals on the National Security Council. Was it too much to ask to appoint a National Security Council immediately upon his inauguration? Mr. Obama took 3 months from his election night to make his decision. In contrast, George W. Bush's National Security Council under Condoleeza Rice drafted action memos on Al-Qaeda only 5 days after taking over from the Clinton Administration. Al-Qaeda was not a household name at that point, either.

It does not stop here. The Stimson Center, one of Washington's national security think tanks, posted an organizational chart of President Obama's National Security Council. Oddly enough, it is not even prepared by the National Security Council Staff, but by the Office of Interagency Affairs at the Pentagon. Is the NSC so disorganized that they could not produce one for themselves? Clearly, organizing inner-city folks is quite a bit different than organizing political advisors and military generals. We have seen what a community organizer can accomplish on the streets. We have yet to see how a community organizer's skills convert to effective presidential command. By now, we should know, but we do not.