Obama, 51, needs aides who can tell him he’s wrong and who he will listen to, according to David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign strategist.
“It’s always hard to tell the president stuff that he doesn’t want to hear,” said Axelrod, who insisted Obama has several aides who can perform that task. “It may be more imperative now than ever.”
Obama’s performance in the first debate of the 2012 campaign, which his own advisers regarded as poor, highlighted his insular tendencies. He relied on a small group to prepare him. During rehearsals, he exhibited symptoms of what one aide diagnosed as the Presidency Disease, a flat-footedness that results from being rarely challenged.
Building Relationships
He has also bucked advice to reach outside the White House to develop relationships with other Democrats as well as Republicans.
“He needs to have a reservoir of good will, and fundamental to that is building trusting relationships on Capitol Hill,” said Ken Duberstein, a chief of staff to former President Ronald Reagan.
In his last news conference, Obama brushed aside a question about whether he needed to socialize more. He said Republicans have turned down his invitations.
“I think there are a lot of Republicans at this point that feel that, given how much energy has been devoted in some of the media that’s preferred by Republican constituencies to demonize me, that it doesn’t look real good socializing with me,” Obama said.
Foreign Policy
One guide for Obama may be his own foreign policy approach.