Donaldson: Let's Hope Obama Is a Quick Learner

Feb. 5, 2009 — -- The following is a commentary by ABC News' Sam Donaldson. Click here to view a video version of his latest essay.

President Obama has been in office for exactly two weeks and two days and in that time he has faced a steep learning curve. He has certainly been challenged early… if not exactly in the manner predicted by Vice President Joe Biden during the campaign.

The first challenge, and the first lesson learned, came from the mistake, as the president has acknowledged, of nominating people for high office who for one reason or another did not meet Obama's high standards. He learned the hard way that's one campaign promise you'd better keep in a time of voter "blowback" against the old Washington ways.

The second challenge has come from Republicans on Capitol Hill -- and a good number of economists and members of the business community -- who are opposing the overall thrust and size of the Obama stimulus plan. The lesson the president is learning from this is that trying to be "Mr. Nice Guy" gets you only so far in Washington… and in the end, it isn't the way to get things done.

Obama spent days preaching bipartisan unity, telling Republicans he liked some of their ideas, going up to Capitol Hill to personally stroke his opponents and what did it get him? Not a single Republican vote in the House. Even though Senate Democrats passed a significant Republican proposal to help homeowners Wednesday night, GOP opposition in the Senate appears to be as strong as ever.

So now, President Obama has gone back to denouncing "the failed policies of the past," which he says the Republicans seem to want in the bill, and reminding them that the people voted in November for him, not them.

The ghost of Franklin Roosevelt, who in his day fought the opposition without giving an inch, must be applauding.

Mind you, I am not saying Obama's large stimulus bill is the right way to go. The Republicans may be right; no one really knows. But I do know that when you are president there comes a time when you must insist, if you can, on doing it your way. Leaders must lead and then, of course, take responsibility for their decisions if they turn out to be wrong.

President Obama will certainly face many more challenges. Let us hope he continues to be a quick learner.

Sam Donaldson, a 41-year ABC News veteran, served two appointments as chief White House correspondent for ABC News, from 1977-1989 and from January 1998 to August 1999, covering Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Donaldson also co-anchored, with Diane Sawyer, "PrimeTime Live," from August 1989 until it merged with "20/20" in 1999. He co-anchored the ABC News Sunday morning broadcast, "This Week With Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts," from December 1996 to September 2002. Currently, Donaldson appears on ABC News Now, the ABC News digital network, in a daily show called "Politics Live."