Obama; Character Type

     In my opinion I think that Obama is a mixture between a passive-positive and a active-positive president, but overall more leaning towards active so that is what I will prove. A positive-active president was described under Barber's theory as having high self-esteem, enjoys the job, is flexible and likes to compromise. This president wants to see results and may fail when he can't get people to see his way. To me, this describes Obama accurately. Before Obama even entered office, he promised that he would try and push for compromising between parties and make bipartisan policy. He also wasn't afraid to compromise with tax cuts for republicans and other things. He also really likes the job from what I can see, which in tern makes him positive. He's always talking to the public or even making funny videos about himself like the "Thanks Obama" one. This attitude allows for him to have confidence in his decisions and not care too much about what his party thinks. For example, his party and others gave him an immense amount of backlash for health care reform but he kept pushing for it with no regards for his approval ratings. This shows that he is active. Also, not being satisfied with just getting the country out of recession and wanting to push for healthcare also shows that he is active. Another example is Osama Bin Laden, Obama chose to be risky and go after him whereas maybe a more passive president would have opted not to do so. Last but not least he is active because he choses personal and close encounters. He calls lots of people, had drinks/played gold with the Speaker and even went to Congress himself which is rare. The reason I think he is also passive is because he doesn't use his evolutionary powers very well or often to get things done, he just uses his enumerated powers well.


This picture depicts Obama having lunch with Republican Senators showing his wants for compromise and an example of his personal encounters.



     Obama does not have the right "character" to fit our current government. A negative-active president would suit our mixed government better. The reasoning behind this is that nothing gets done these days. A major reason for that is that the parties do not want to compromise. In a perfect world a president who is active-positive would be the best because government needs compromise to work but now parties do not want to do this. This then calls for a negative-active president who is ambitious and is never satisfied. They constantly want to get things done and seeks power. If congress is being inefficient then the president needs to take charge and try and move things along.

     For the upcoming election I don't think this theory is useful and voters don't really know about it therefore not one of these character types will be what the voters are looking for. Also a lot of qualities within this theory can't be previously known and could change once the person comes into power. Without regards to this theory I think voters will be looking for a president not like Obama since his approval ratings are very low, meaning someone with different views. I think that voters will still be looking for the usual, a well spoken president that is good at keeping up with the media and is experienced. Hopefully the voters will be looking for an active president that seems like he really wants to get things done and will stop at nothing to get the government in higher gear than in its current state.