Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency | 
| Author: Robert Kuttner
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Category: Book
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Sales Rank: 1534
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 213
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Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1603580794
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.973
EAN: 9781603580793
Publication Date: August 25, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
Richard Parker on Obama's Challenge
Richard Parker is the author of John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics. He is an Oxford-trained economist and senior fellow of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he also teaches a course on religion and public policy. A cofounder of the magazine Mother Jones, he writes extensively on economics and public policy. This is a vitally important book--one which should be read whether you support Barack Obama or not. It's a concisely reasoned and elegantly written essay on how a truly courageous president could lead us forward. A slender volume, it very usefully sweeps us past the often-overwrought speculation about whether this will or won't be a "transformative" election--akin to Lincoln's, Roosevelt's, JFK's, and even Ronald Reagan's--and on to the real questions of what such an election might accomplish, how, and why. Obama's Challenge assumes Obama will be elected, but its author is hardly a captive partisan. As a highly regarded journalist and deft policy analyst, Robert Kuttner has been covering presidential elections--as well the politics of governance in the four years between them--for more than three decades. Experience has convinced him that the size and complexity of the problems America and the world are facing today requires an extraordinarily gifted leader--and he is willing here to affirm that Barack Obama might well be that person. The book's unique contribution, however, is to shows us that the sheer magnitude of those problems will require a President Obama to use his gifts for specific ends--and what those ends should be. We must repair, Kuttner persuades us, the enormous damage that's been done over the past 40 years by heedless business deregulation, careless globalization, massive deficits, environmental neglect, arrogantly unilateral use of military power, increasingly regressive tax system, and most important, by a relentless denigration of the clear value of government itself by those in the highest public offices--even though democratic government has always been and is now, the precondition, not the enemy, of America's past achievement and future hope. In doing so, he cogently explains how derelict conservative ideology, combined with a deformed bipartisanship, led to this situation, how presidents of great potential have in the past became transformative leaders--and how President Obama could take up the promise he offers now, and shape it into the world we need. Kuttner is refreshingly realistic nonetheless about the roadblocks and pitfalls ahead. Hardly utopian himself, he urges Obama--and his supporters--to grasp the full requirements for transformative change in terms of leadership and values. In the past, Kuttner has shown himself to be highly adept at parsing complex policy alternatives, but he somberly cautions the new president away from such a path by quoting Lincoln's dictum, "With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed." What he elegantly demonstrates instead is that Obama must mobilize the country by helping us take the imaginative steps forward that will allow us together to remake--and redeem--the nation. And if Obama takes time to read this essay before November, it will significantly enhance his prospects of first reaching the White House. No one can possibly know what lies in store for an Obama presidency--or whether he will in fact reach the White House. This is the only book, however, to cogently explain why and how we must tackle now the great problems that have been so so carelessly created, and by reflecting on earlier transformative presidencies, offers us the map by which President Obama (and we) might chart a truly tranformative presidency.
Product Description
Barack Obama approaches the Presidency at a critical moment in American history, facing simultaneous crises of war, the environment, health care, but most especially in the economy. If he is able to rise to the moment, he could join the ranks of a small handful of previous presidents who have been truly transformative, succeeding in fundamentally changing our economy, society, and democracy for the better.But this will require imaginative and decisive action as Obama takes office, action bolder than he has promised during his campaign, and will be all the more difficult given the undertow of conventional wisdom in Washington and on Wall Street that resists fundamental change. Decades of regressive politics and political gridlock have left America in its most precarious situation since the onset of the Great Depression. The collapse of the housing bubble continues, as does the financial meltdown it triggered; a revival of 1970s style stagflation threatens; incomes continue to lag behind inflation; our household and international debts pile higher; disastrous climate change looms; energy and food prices continue their escalation; and the ranks of un- and under-insured Americans grow, the clearest, and most heartless, example of Americas destructive inequalities.Solutions to our multiple challenges do exist, but they wont be found in overly cautious or expedient quick fixes. With his exceptional skill at appealing to our better angels, Barack Obama could be the right leader at the right time to re-awaken America to the renewed promise of shared prosperity coupled with responsibility towards future generations and the international community with whom we share the Earth. Invoking Americas greatest leaders, Robert Kuttner explains how Obama must be a transformative presidentor a failed one.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 How Obama Can Be Great December 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
No one can deny Robert Kuttner's premise - our next President really has his work cut out for him. But Kuttner goes further; he makes a strong case for the notion that the next President will have to be a great president. His examples of greatness, in a transformative sense, are Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.
In Kuttner's view, each of these Presidents entered office without an agenda of dramatic change, but the circumstances they found, once in office, forced each of them to transcend politics to become the kind of leaders the nation desperately needed.
The Republican, Abraham Lincoln, had no plans to abolish slavery when he ran for office in 1860, but grew in his realization that slavery was immoral - and must be addressed. His eloquence and his political gifts, along with the Civil War itself, allowed him to end that blight on the nation's conscience.
Franklin Roosevelt was committed to budget balancing and budget cutting when he campaigned in 1932. What he found upon assuming office was a deepening economic depression and a nation demoralized. He used his gifts of optimism and communication in a dramatic search for practical - not ideological - solutions.
Lyndon Johnson assumed the Presidency after John Kennedy's assassination, and found a highly segregated nation. His awakening to the plight of African-Americans was nothing short of remarkable for a Texas politician. His compassion and tenacity - with the passage of the Voting Rights Act - finally made possible the fulfillment of the promise of Lincoln.
Kuttner believes that the current crisis gives Obama this opportunity to grow into this kind of transformative leader we need to move forward in economic equity, health care reform and education. Obama is not there yet. His health care plan, for example, is not transformative to the degree we need. But of the two choices, Obama has the intellect, the character and the temperament to become a great leader.
Leaders, after all, do compromise and collaborate and understand politics; however, they also take us to places we have not imagined previously. They aspire us to rise above our old ways. They lead us to a new vision.
Not every President has the talent to lead us in this transformative way. George W. Bush, for example, when faced with a growing concern about global warming - decided to ignore the evidence. Entering office to decades long stagnation of middle class wages - he cut taxes on the wealthy and boosted deregulation. Following the tragedy of 9-11, he pushed for the invasion of a weak country and promoted the torture of prisoners. His leadership didn't call out our better selves - it exacerbated our weaknesses.
Kuttner promotes a number of transformative ideas for consideration. One that deserves consideration is the professionalization of the service employees of the nation's social service sector. We can all agree that the nation's children and elderly deserve high quality care, but current policies and regulations push the service equation towards lower prices, not higher quality.
The front line staff of America's nursing homes, residential treatment programs and day care centers are largely poorly trained, poorly educated, short-term employees. Private children's homes in KY face frighteningly high turnover rates every year. Higher governmental standards could force the hiring of better educated and more intrinsically motivated workers. In turn, as higher skilled workers demand higher wages, these good jobs could become a decent wage option for workers displaced by globalization and the decline of manufacturing.
Our vulnerable children and aging population would receive better care, and these newly enhanced jobs could not be outsourced to other nations.
Kuttner leaves us where Obama entered the race - with the possibilities of hope. Heaven knows we need it.
Can Obama rescue America from the brink? November 27, 2008
Robert Kuttner's advices to Obama in overcoming the crisis that has brought America to the edge are not something new as many US foreign policy experts have done so in the recent past. But such advices were not heeded by the Bush administration until they have landed America into a real crisis situation.
Kuttner may be right in deriding unbridled free trade and the increasing obeisity of the federal government but does not his suggestion for more government intervention in economic spheres lead to the very road that Kuttner so vehemently opposes? The problem with American leaders is that American ideals and values that I'd termed as 'American Cavalcade' in my book, 'Tracing the Eagle's Orbit' were framed within and for an America closetted between the two oceans but the vision of the founding fathers regarding a non-interventionist and a non committed America from a global perspective had been repeatedly violated by successive presidents starting with TR.
So what worked for an isolationist United States under Lincoln or Roosevelt may not work in the third millennium. The role of charisma and leadership works well within a country but international relations are complex issues where it is the American values that are viewed with suspicion. To make matters worse, America of the new century needs the outside world more than vice-versa and hence the need to be more understanding of others.
Obama is an innovative leader and he is well aware of the international scenario and how to lead America through the intricacies of diverse interests of the community of nations. Obama, I think, should align more with its Western allies to stave off a second isolation.
Gautam Maitra
Author of 'Tracing the Eagle's Orbit: Illuminating Insights into Major US Foreign Policies since Independence.'
From the non-economist November 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Okay, I'll admit this. I really don't have a strong understanding of the economy. I'm trying, with some of my reading that I've been doing lately (try: The Conscience of a Liberal, to inform myself on the cause of the recent economic disaster, and what to do about it. It's clear, regardless of my understanding of the crisis, that it is a crisis nonetheless. Economist Robert Kuttner has written a very timely and prescient book on this issue called "Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency."
Kuttner, co-founder of the liberal "American Prospect", writes about Obama's position in history of becoming another truly transformative president, in the mold of Lincoln, FDR, and even LBJ (prior to Vietnam). The first couple of chapters of the book address his possible place amongst the greats, arguing the times and the situation call for greatness. He calls for Obama to not govern in the middle, or lead shyly, but to be a truly ambitious leader, for which the situation calls. In listening to Obama, and studying his speeches and campaign, Kuttner believes that Obama has what it takes to become this man.
The next two chapters tend to wallow through some economic theory that, to be honest, some of which flew by me in a fog of misunderstanding. Fortunately, Kuttner must be aware of his audience, and he doesn't spend too much time in that theory. Kuttner does advocate an ambitious spending plan when Obama reaches office, to shore up the economy, and help stablize some people's lives shattered by the mortgage and banking situations. He encourages Democrats not to run as "Republican-lites", meaning not to reinforce ill-begotten Republican theories like "trickle-down economics" by reinforcing the need for constant tax cuts.
I read this book in just a few short hours, and admired its courage and progressiveness in it's thought. Clearly, Obama is going to govern unlike our previous president, by getting viewpoints from many different voices before making his decisions. I would hope that Kuttner's voice is one of them.
very informative October 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book to be well written and very interesting and informative. I live in New Zealand so this book also gave me a lot of background information of which I had been unaware. For example Kuttner definitely views Obama as more "mainstream democrat" than I had assumed from the usual media.
A positive assessment for a better future October 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Robert Kuttner, the author of this book, has a rare ability to project a current reality forward in time, and surmise the resulting consequences of our present situation. His previous book, "The squandering of America: How the failure of our politics undermines our prosperity" (2007) detailed how the current financial crisis would unfold as a result of too much deregulation. In this book he discusses the ways in which a transformative presidency could address the challenges before our country in the current economic situation. His is a message of both sacrifice and hope. I recommend this book highly to any who have despaired over what our country has become.
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