Showdown: Barack Obama as Battler

David Corn, author and Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones magazine, can understand why backers of Barack Obama became disappointed with Obama's early performance as president. Critics, many of them once staunch supporters,  contended that Obama wasn't really fighting  hard on issues, was capitulating way to easily and often to conservative right-wing Republican legislators, and was failing to use his impressive oratorical skills to push his positions and rally a country foundering in financial and political disorder.

But a deeper examination, such as Corn was forced to take for his latest book, reveals that Obama has stuck to a steady plan that may well lead him to a second term and another chance to create an America more to his supporters' liking.

Corn, who appeared at Politics and Prose today to talk about his new book Showdown: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back Against Boehner, Cantor, and the Tea Party, says President Obama possesses a tremendous amount of what the author calls "strategic patience," a rare commodity in Washington where everyone else is dealing with "the story of the nano second."

"He has a longtime idea of how to draw a very sharp vision and he is deeply pragmatic about how to get there," Corn said. "It's not winning the fight of the moment, but looking at the long-term win."

Corn said that White House advisers readily admit that the administration made many mistakes early on. "We did things badly. We were overwhelmed," several staffers told Corn. The darkest point came with the crushing Democratic defeat in the 2010 midterm elections. However, even there, staffers told Corn that the president seemed resolute. "Look, it was a bad night," Obama said. "But we're not going to be gnashing our teeth." He then continued to list several projects he wanted to move on right away. Some of those hearing the president thought "our boss is crazy. What does he see that we don't see?"

But in the months that followed, Obama's slow, steady approach seemed to make more sense in the poisoned, political culture. "He saw a different way of looking at the future. He began attacking the Republicans for not being optimistic. This is how he sees it and he began talking about it.," Corn said.

The author said that as he began writing he "felt like he was describing a guy who was working a Rubik's Cube. I had new appreciation for the difficulty (the President) faced. I thought this is really hard stuff ... I don't know what I would do."

Corn said his research confirmed that Obama encountered almost unbelievable obstruction from the opposition. "How do you negotiate with (GOP leader) John Boehner when he can't even bring his own people to the table?"

One of the greatest examples of the new idea that political dysfunction is the way things function in Washington came during an interview with a Senator. The Senator complained that the President had never invited even one Senator to the White House to watch a movie. "I though you know, you need to grow up a little bit," Corn said.

Corn indicated that while it is too early to say with certainty, Obama should be able to recapture much of that enthusiastic support that propelled him to the White House. "Your first campaign election is like a honeymoon. Now it's more like a marriage. I think he will find a way to re-energize people," Corn said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Corn said his new book has prompted criticism, mostly from right-wing pundits and news organizations. Fox News has complained about a section where President Obama said he was "fed up with Fox saying 24/7 that I am a Muslim." Corn said that while Fox newscasters complained, his research showed many times when they supported the idea that Obama was a closet Muslim. They would say things like "Well, I don't know if Obama is a Muslim but here are 27 reasons why people might believe he is a Muslim." But Corn says his favorite criticism is coming from controversial right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh. "I have been criticized (for the book) on 3 separate occasions by Rush Limbaugh. That's very gratifying to me, almost as gratifying as the New York Times best selling list," Corn said..