New Zealand perspective on Obama presidency

Fulbright Scholar Dr Jon Johansson on Wednesday night brought a New Zealand perspective to the Obama presidency in front of a packed lecture theatre at Victoria University’s Rutherford House.

Drawing upon a semester spent in the US observing the healthcare debates, Tea Party protests and Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, Victoria’s Dr Johansson gave his assessment of Obama’s first 16 months in power.

He said despite the problems inherent in America’s constitution and political institutions, he was optimistic that Obama could deliver on the huge promise he was elected on.

“One can glimpse the seeds of an historic presidency in Obama. His psychological health, his unflappability, his indifference to approval ratings or of his momentary political setbacks, all suggests that he is confident and content to keep inexorably pushing towards the achieving of his long-term goals.”

Dr Johansson believes despite Obama’s low approval ratings, and the angry, at times hateful opposition he has received from political opponents, the long-term prospects, including an improving economy, looked good for Obama.

He said Obama’s prospects were also helped by a Republican opposition that had not yet developed an effective alternative.

“The Republicans are hopelessly trapped inside tactical politics and while it can succeed during the current recessionary conditions, it will not help them reclaim the White House in 2012. For them to succeed they will somehow have to find a way of constructing sentences longer than ‘NO’.”

He did not think that Sarah Palin offered a credible leader for the Republican Party and doubted Americans would accept her as President.

“Polls show that even a majority of Republicans don’t think she is fit for President. The collective intelligence of the American electorate will not allow that to happen.”

He said the prospects of the Republicans would be determined by their ability to incorporate the grass roots Tea Party movement into their campaign.

“The Tea Party phenomenon is evidence of popular frustration, anger and even hatred—a strange mutation taking place on the conservative side of politics. Where this movement goes next will determine the short-term election success of the Republican Party.”

Dr Johansson, an expert on political leadership, offered two possible scenarios for Obama’s presidency—a reconstructive era of genuine change and progress, or an unsatisfying pre-emptive presidency, marked by policy frustrations and ineffective tinkering. He said for the sake of all Americans, and not just Obama, he hoped for the first type.

“My experiences in the US led me to think that the potential of reconstructive politics is all that stands in between America and a long slow decline.”

Dr Johansson was Fulbright’s Visiting Scholar in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington late last year. He is a senior lecturer in Victoria University’s Political Science and International Relations programme. He is a frequent media commentator, regularly appearing on TV One’s Q&A, and is the author of several books, including The Politics of Possibility: Leadership in Changing Times, published last year by Dunmore Press.

The lecture was arranged jointly by the Fulbright New Zealand Alumni Association and the School of History, Philosophy, Politics & International Relations at Victoria University.

To view a video of Dr Johansson’s lecture, please visit: http://mdsweb.vuw.ac.nz/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=1110f6c207d34a7a9df022e630a4ab9a

ENDS

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