Clinging to civility

Clinging to civility - The Boston Globe: "FOR ME, the real Obama moment of this back-to-work season wan’t the speech before Congress or Wall Street. It was in the Virginia schoolhouse when a ninth-grader asked him a question that had nothing and everything to do with his presidency: “And if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?’’ The president was not about to choose Lindsay Lohan. Nor did he pick Abe Lincoln. His answer was Gandhi"

Ever since the election campaign I have tried to understand the character of the 44th president. I found him unusual. Ellen Goodman delivers a new clue. He definitely doesn't want to be the bully on the playground but rather the charming, calm and irresistible center-of-the-network kind of guy.

But Gandi was one of those leaders that people worshiped. The philosopher king. Not the manager type. The question is however, if it is possible to manage the US? Perhaps it is rather managing itself these days. Paul Krugman wrote in his blog just before he went on a vacation: maybe the US is ungovernable.

I was enthusiastic about Sarah Palin for president for the reason that perhaps the US presidency is changing character. She would be more of a queen for the masses than a manager of all the tough guys on the block who run their "systems". Does Obama want to be such a king?

In a way it is similar to the Swedish case of lack of respect by the evening press to the cermonial opening of the Riksdag, celebrating democracy. Joe Wilson, the man that shouted "liar" during Obama's address to Congress, had lost respect for his president.

But "change we can believe in" is a strong and very timely statement. We have reached a new era and the first to successfully adapt will be the new leader. Perhaps Obama will pull this off in the way Anne-Marie Slaughter depicted. I like the idea.