Obama's style shifts with task at hand

WASHINGTON -- His $787 billion economic stimulus package was under withering attack from Republicans in February when President Obama decided to take his case to the American people.

For four days, he darted from Indiana to Florida to Virginia to Illinois, touting road projects, electric grids and school renovations as the elixir for the ailing economy. At his final stop, he lauded freshman Republican Rep. Aaron Schock, who urged him to "do the right thing for the people of Peoria."

The next day, Congress approved the stimulus plan, Obama's signature achievement so far. But Schock voted no, as did every House Republican and all but three in the Senate.

"He was simply doing his job," the Illinois lawmaker says. "Simply put, the stimulus bill did not play in Peoria."

That week in February speaks volumes about Obama's nascent presidency as it nears the100-day mark: His even temper, persistence and rhetorical skills have combined to advance both his personal popularity and his far-flung ambitions. Yet he hasn't won over his detractors, who could still derail his agenda.

"Obama believes that rhetoric is power, and that a president has two purposes — to explain and persuade," says Stephen Wayne, a Georgetown University government professor who is writing a book on Obama's character. If threatened, "He'll take out the gloves and come out fighting — but his style is compromise."

Funny, yet firm, in private. Powerful, if not always persuasive, in public. Deliberate, almost to the point of appearing aloof, when making decisions. Willing to accept small steps without giving up on grand goals.

These are some of the images Obama has left on the world stage in his first three months on the job. He can be contemplative, alone at his Oval Office desk with his thoughts. He can be casual, entertaining House members and spouses in the Blue Room of the White House on Thursday night or rolling Easter eggs with children on the lawn last week. He can be inspiring, telling 20,000 cheering Czechs in Prague this month of his dream for "a world without nuclear weapons."

"He's tremendously comfortable in any room," senior adviser David Axelrod says. "Part of it has to do with his upbringing, that he's lived in a lot of places, he's had to adjust to lots of different people. His own background lends itself to that."

Combating his 'inner nerd'

It was Super Bowl Sunday, and the White House was filled with the sounds of helmets crunching and children playing. The leader of the free world was serving cookies and brownies.

Even that couldn't squelch what Princeton University professor-emeritus Fred Greenstein calls Obama's "inner nerd." When Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., there to root for the victorious Pittsburgh Steelers, made a pitch for his bill on pre-kindergarten education, Obama was receptive.

"He's able to keep things light when they should be, and social, but also to work in some discussions," Casey says. "He's very open to listening to people."

Republicans complain that he doesn't act on their ideas. "It's virtually all mood music and aesthetics," says Peter Wehner, a former top strategist for President George W. Bush. "There's a gap between how he governs and how he presents himself."

Obama's inner circle reminds historians of John Kennedy's "best and brightest." It's an amalgam of former opponents, politicians, economists, educators and scientists who show that Obama, 47, isn't intimidated by brains or savvy.

"That takes a lot of guts," says Bruce Buchanan, who teaches presidential politics at the University of Texas. "It's a rare president; most others bring their 'mafias' on board."

Armed with instant celebrity as the nation's first black president, Obama hasn't had time to bask in that spotlight. The focus on his race "lasted about a day," he says. Since then, he has set on repairing the economy and restoring America's reputation in the world.

To those tasks, he has brought an analytical style of decision-making. He has added an economic briefing to his schedule, boning up on troubled assets and derivatives.

"It's kind of the Kennedy style with the FDR context, where you're dealing with a tsunami of disaster," Greenstein says.

Trying not to lose touch

While focusing on big things, Obama has taken small steps. His decisions to slowly shut the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and open some family travel to Cuba show his inclination for compromise, experts say.

Stanley Renshon, a psychoanalyst and political scientist at City University of New York who's writing a book on Obama, sees a "pragmatic, slow, deliberative, not-too-risky, hedging-your-bets style." Yet he says grandiose goals such as overhauling health care highlight Obama's "audacity of ambition" — a play on the president's book The Audacity of Hope.

Trapped in the White House bubble, Obama checks his Blackberry, reads 10 letters a day from citizens and gets out on the town, from charter schools to chili joints. Just as Abraham Lincoln used newspapers, Franklin Roosevelt used radio and Ronald Reagan used television, Obama has mastered blog posts and YouTube to get his message out.

"Effective presidents of their time understand the medium of their day," says John White of Catholic University, who's also writing a book on Obama.

There have been gaffes, as when Obama quipped on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that his 129 bowling score "was like Special Olympics or something." He stood by Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services secretary even as tax problems doomed the nomination, and he waited days before criticizing executive bonuses at American International Group (AIG).

"He is aware of his tendency to retreat into his world of thought, to be a philosopher-king," Wayne says. "The danger of philosopher-kings is they can lose touch."