En el New Yorker publican un gran artículo sobre el gobierno de Obama a partir de los memorandos (¿memoranda?) de trabajo de su equipo y las notas que él tomó de cada uno de ellos para evaluar cada decisión relevante. Me encantaría que en México la transparencia del gobierno fuera tal, que pudiéramos conocer este tipo de detalles desde donde sabríamos qué toman en cuenta y qué no los tomadores de decisiones a la hora de decidir. ¿Cálculos políticos, principios o compromisos de largo plazo?
En el artículo hay dos reflexiones particularmente interesantes. La primera es la distinción, que Obama, supone el autor, aprende con el tiempo, entre un "director" del cambio y un "facilitador" del cambio. Obama quería ser director, y ha aprendido, con la dura realidad política, a ser un facilitador. Una vez que se reconoce esto, queda claro que Obama ha sido uno de los presidentes más exitosos en EU en los útlimos tiempos si la medida es su capacidad para impulsar una agenda legislativa.
Director vs facilitador:
The common view is of a leader whom Edwards calls “the director of change,” someone who reshapes public opinion and the political landscape with his charisma and his powers of persuasion. Obama’s many admirers expected him to be just this.
Instead, Obama has turned out to be what Edwards calls “a facilitator of change.” The facilitator is acutely aware of the constraints of public opinion and Congress. He is not foolish enough to believe that one man, even one invested with the powers of the Presidency, can alter the fundamentals of politics. Instead, “facilitators understand the opportunities for change in their environments and fashion strategies and tactics to exploit them.” Directors are more like revolutionaries. Facilitators are more like tacticians. Directors change the system. Facilitators work the system.
Sobre aprender, legislando:
Obama didn’t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street. Along the way, Obama may have changed his mind about his 2008 critique of Hillary Clinton. “Working the system, not changing it” and being “consumed with beating” Republicans “rather than unifying the country and building consensus to get things done” do not seem like such bad strategies for success after all.
Uno podrá decir lo que sea de Obama, pero ojalá tuviéramos un presidente que aprendiera tan rápido.