There was a moment on D-Day, related in Cornelius Ryan’s great history The Longest Day, when American troops landing on Utah beach discovered they had disembarked their landing craft in the wrong place, at a point significantly removed from the planned point of attack. Surrounded by confused and anxious captains, Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of the former president, calmly said “Very well–we’ll start the war right here.”
What has been most admirable about Barack Obama as he has landed on his Normandy is that very same sense of confidence. Facing a once-in-a-generation economic crisis, Obama has just worked the problem–that one, and others too. Remarkably, while doing so, he has not betrayed his inner anxieties. Each of our recent presidents, without exception, gave away something of what was happening inside. The elaborate handling of Ronald Reagan showed that there was concern about overexposure. George H.W. Bush’s wordy, tangent-laden speaking style revealed the existence of an inner editor who distrusted the man who was talking. Bill Clinton’s over the top eagerness to charm and impress displayed an outsized hunger for approval. And George W. Bush’s resolute self-discipline showed a man working to compensate for his manifest deficiencies with the only tools at his disposal. So far, there is no evidence of Obama displaying any of those anxieties. The way Obama has performed as president is reminiscent of nothing so much as the way Joe Montana played quarterback, with a very cool confidence rare among even other highly successful athletes, a confidence that quietly says `Come on, we can do this, let’s get going, let’s win the game.’
The worst part? Well, nothing has made me cringe. But there are still open questions. I won’t use the word `toughness’–Obama has shown kinds of toughness, particularly in terms of self-discipline–but there will be a moment, probably many moments, where he will have to lay down the law and enforce his will. There are talents involved in doing that, aptitudes for the tasks involved. The world is full of good cops and bad cops, lovers and fighters. In Obama, we have seen the uniter, the community organizer, the open hand, the smiling face, the bipartisan invitation, the willingness to admit error. We haven’t seen Obama the Bare-Knuckled Brawler yet, and only time will tell if that’s part of his game.