Saturday, August 1, 2009

In his first six months on the job, President Barack Obama has developed a distinctive management style that is vastly different from that which we experienced under President George W. Bush. Obama has decided to deal with a number of important national and international issues at the same time, and some of his critics think he is trying to do too much.

But Obama makes the case that the national and world financial disaster, for example, is not only a result of Wall Street run amuck, but also symptomatic of other pressures on financial markets such as the failing auto industry, rising health-care costs, rising unemployment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, energy and the environment, failing education, antiquated government technology, deteriorating infrastructure and a host of social issues.

Obama believes very strongly that these important issues are interrelated, require our immediate attention, and that corrective action taken on one of them also has a positive impact on the others. A stronger auto industry, for example, will increase employment, and a stronger and safer mortgage market will reduce the number of bankruptcies and boost house sales, while lowering health-care costs will provide families with more discretionary funds. Taken all together, the single most important result of each of these "corrections" or solutions is that each will increase the tax base and provide more funds for the government to spend on service programs for all citizens.

Recently, President Obama's favorable rating has declined from a high of 76 percent in February to 61 percent just last week. One reason given for this decline is that the unemployment rate, which was expected to top off at about 8 percent, is now more than 9 percent. But has anyone noticed that of the nearly $800 billion in the stimulus package intended to jump-start the economy, only about $200 billion has been accessed? Meanwhile, the rate of increase in unemployment has declined, indicating the stimulus is having a positive impact.

We need to be patient and give the stimulus a chance to work. The financial crisis of this nation and the world is not going to turn around in merely a few months.

Obama's approach to the management of major issues is to identify a goal, provide guidelines and then turn the issue over to Congress to work out the details. Members of the Obama administration then work toward the goal by meeting with members of Congress and others whose support is necessary if the goal is to be achieved. Meanwhile, members of the administration bring citizens on board by informing them on the issue through the Internet, while Obama keeps the issue to the fore through speeches and town hall meetings.

The management style Obama employs is similar to what every administrator has learned is the most effective way to lead: Get everyone from the bottom up involved in supporting a shared goal so they all have a piece of the action. When everyone has an opportunity to buy into a project, the project is more likely to succeed. Sometimes, however, soliciting detailed input from every individual and group waters down the ultimate goal and the end result is far from what was originally intended.

Shortly after taking office, President Bill Clinton sought to eliminate discrimination against gays in the military, but by the time everyone put in his or her two cents' worth we wound up with "don't ask, don't tell." The Defense Department policy was far from what Clinton had intended and today we have a deeply flawed and broken policy.

Using a completely different approach, President Harry Truman on July 26, 1948, signed an executive order eliminating racial discrimination in the military. Prior to that, African-Americans fought bravely and honorably in World War II, but in racially segregated units. By the mid-1950s, the armed services had been smoothly and completely racially integrated based on the president's executive order.

During his election campaign, Obama promised to get rid of the policy. On the recent anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, he reiterated that promise in a speech stating his support for gay and lesbian rights. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Joint Chiefs of Staff members, numerous retired generals and more than 60 percent of the American public support repealing the policy and favor gays and lesbians serving openly as they do in Britain, Canada and Australia.

I think we can now say the goal of having gays and lesbians serve openly in the military is within reach. Rather than having Obama turn it over to Congress, where it has the distinct possibility of being twisted into something no one really wants, it may be time for Obama to take a lesson from Truman and sign an executive order repealing the policy and supporting civil rights for gays and lesbians to serve openly in the American armed forces.

John Andola, a Key West resident, is a retired educator and gay rights activist. His column appears in The Citizen on Saturdays. He can be contacted at jandola@keysnews.com.