Please focus, Mr Obama

Mr Obama, the US President, has been drawing flaks, both from his critics as well as his supporters lately. Among the more popular ones are comments such as he is not firm enough, he is taking a lot of time since his inauguration to unveil concrete plans to deliver his campaign promises and he seems to be everywhere (he is the first sitting President to appear in Jay Leno Show, he participates in town hall meetings over the internet and he tweets). Although all these comments seem unrelated at first sight, they are not if you spend some time poring through the articles. The root cause of these comments is none other than the lack of focus.

Lack of focus tends to divert one from the core problem and start pondering about issues that have little weights on the core problem. The result: solutions that do not pack a punch because of the inclusion of many compromises to make sure they do not hurt these groups, those groups and etc. When more information are received, more changes are made to ensure these information are taken into account. This, I guess, is the reason behind the comment on his firmness.

While it is good to come up with bipartisan (lack of focus) solutions, Mr Obama has to understand the greater amount of time needed to come up with such solutions as compared to that of the non-partisan ones as his officials have to engage more people. On the other hand, speed is the key element to solve the ongoing economic crisis. Under such circumstances, Mr Obama should cast aside, at least for a while, his bipartisan stand. However, it appears that he has not done so, evidence from the time he takes to unveil his administration’s concrete plans on ending the crisis. (Of course, that is in addition to the lack of manpower in the Treasury.)

Mr Obama’s eagerness to maintain his image as the People’s President also contributes greatly to his lack of focus. His intention, I believe, is to show the public he remains in touch with the common people. But he participated in so many events (some I don’t are suitable to be graced by a Standing President) his intention seems to have backfired: People start asking what exactly the focus of his administration is: Economy? Health? Or even music?

As an example, the middle-class tax cut he mentioned during his election campaign appears to be in limbo. He also talked about boosting the number of troops in Afghanistan; only to mention about the need of an exit strategy even before troops are sent in a couple of days ago.

I understand Mr Obama is not a veteran politician and thus has a steep learning curve after moving into the Oval Office, but surely staying focus is not an attribute that is exclusive to the White House. Even a child knows that too many cooks spoil the broth. The message to Mr Obama is clear: Stay focus or risk further drop in his popularity.