Obama: The 101st Senator

Much has been made over the last 48 hours about Candidate Obama's pledge to televise the negotiations for Health insurance Reform. Folks with the time and determination to count such things have found eight separate instances when Mr. O pitched that some sort of coverage of the inner workings of Congress should be televised by C-SPAN.

Much more needs to be made of Nancy Pelosi's response when questioned by a brave member of the press who pointed out these pledges.

"There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail."

That comment belies a deep problem with the current Administration's relationship with the House - and with Capitol Hill in general.

It's not just the Conservatives on Talk Radio. Congress doesn't respect Obama either.

His complete lack of experience in an Executive role is showing. His instincts are that of a legislator.

He is ignorant of the power of the Bully Pulpit. I submit 'Exhibit A' - Obama's neophyte response to the Fort Hood shootings. With the media and many Americans waiting for a some sort of encouraging, empathetic message from their President, we were instead treated to several minutes of shout outs and personal messages to the organizers of the conference he was attending. A man who understood the power - and the ROLE - of the presidency would have known instinctively it was time to set aside the personal stuff and speak directly to the nation from the top of his address.

'Exhibit B' - Obama's September address to a joint session of Congress (the one of the infamous "You Lie!" outburst.) Obama spent a long time that night discussing the details of his alleged Health Care plan. I say 'alleged' because the truth was, he had no plan. Now, he may have had a list of things he wanted, but there was no bill for him to submit to Congress. In short, apart from a laundry list of broad concepts, Obama has had absolutely nothing to do with the bills passed to date. The depth of his participation has been to twist arms for votes. He hasn't insisted that Congress pass his version of the legislation because he has never had his own version of the legislation. He hasn't fought for his bill. He hasn't led the way.

Obama entered into this process by handing the ball to Congress and telling them to come up with something that hit as many of his points as possible. At that point, he virtually abdicated his position of authority and returned to being only one more voice in the maelstrom, the 101st Senator. He could have avoided this scenario by drafting a simpler version of the bill and driving Congress to pass it. The extra pork and state-by-state bribes could have been eliminated and dismissed as politics as usual. He could have thrived in his promised post-partisan world.

But that would take Executive leadership. It's a concept that is still foreign to Obama even after a full year in office.

Pelosi's remarks reflect the fact that Congressional leaders are driving the bus now. And worse, they know it.

Why defer to Obama at this point? He's just another legislator. And he's in way past his pay scale.