The president who is uninterested in other people

Some time ago I contrasted the reaction a conservative would get if he were in the same room with the two most consequential politicians of the 1990s, Bill Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.

If you were in a room with Bill Clinton, he would discover the one issue out of 100 on which you agreed; he would probe you with questions, comments, suggestions; and he would tell you that you enabled him to understand it far better than he ever had before.

If you were in a room with Rudy Giuliani, he would discover the one issue out of 100 on which you disagreed; he would ask pointed questions and pepper you with objections; he would tell you that you are wrong on the facts and wrong on the law, and that you needed to admit you were utterly mistaken.

The difference is partly a matter of personality and temperament, and of regional style: Southern affability, New York prickliness.

But there’s also an underlying similarity. Both Clinton and Giuliani are always curious about what others people think, determined to probe beneath the surface to understand what they really care about, sensitive to find areas of both agreement and disagreement.

They’re good at reading people, an essential quality for an executive and especially for a president. Recent presidents have had that quality in varying degrees.

Clinton, as indicated, has an immense desire to win people over. Daniel Halper’s bestselling Clinton, Inc., shows how he went about winning the affection and respect of the Bush family.

The two Presidents George Bush, aware that presidents have the greatest leeway in foreign affairs, both devoted immense psychic energy in establishing relationships with foreign leaders.

George W. Bush admits in his memoir Decision Points that he initially misjudged Vladimir Putin. But he established close personal rapport with leaders from wildly different backgrounds, from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Brazilian President Lula da Silva.

As for George H. W. Bush, just about everyone now recognizes the brilliance of his diplomacy in response to the invasion of Iraq and the breakup of the Soviet Union. That diplomacy depended on shrewd reading and handling of literally dozens of foreign leaders.

The seemingly aloof Ronald Reagan developed his capacity to understand negotiating partners, as his definitive biographer Lou Cannon made clear, when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild negotiating with studio bosses.

Reagan deployed that ability in establishing productive relations with allies such as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with whom he was by no means always in agreement, and with adversaries like Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose character, strengths, and weaknesses he shrewdly assessed.

The ability to read other people comes more easily if you’re interested in others, curious to learn what makes them tick. It comes harder or not at all if you’re transfixed with your image of yourself.

Which seems to be the case with Barack Obama. Not only is he not much interested in the details of public policy, as Jay Cost argues persuasively in a recent article for the Weekly Standard. He is also, as even his admirers concede, not much inclined to schmooze with other politicians, even his fellow Democrats.

That goes double for Republicans. House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is one of the most transparent and least guileful politicians I’ve encountered. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy and liberal Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., had no difficulty reaching agreement with him on the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.

But Obama has gotten nowhere with him. The president blew up the 2011 grand bargain negotiations by raising the ante late in the game; later budget agreements were left to Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Obama has taken to explaining Republican opposition as the result of “fever” or mental delusion.

Obama is also known to have frosty relations with most foreign leaders. He used to claim to be close to Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. That hasn’t prevented Erdogan from sidling up to the Muslim Brotherhood and exhibiting blatant anti-semitism.

Obama critics have pointed out his fondness for the first person singular. He said “I,” “me,” or “my” 63 times in his 1,631-word eulogy for Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. He spoke twice as long about his own family experiences as the heroism for which Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Bill Clinton and Rudy Giuliani succeeded in large part because they were curious about other people different from themselves. Barack Obama prefers to look in the mirror.

My favorite Reagan story of humidity and the human touch. Reagan was plainly likable. Of all the subjects I’ve studied, few were as universally liked. Sure, Reagan, as president, was demonized by the left; still, most liberals muster nice words about Reagan personally. Central to that likability was Reagan’s humility. The word “I” didn’t dominate his lexicon, unless he was poking fun at himself. Ronald Reagan was not full of pride; thoroughly un-possessed of self-love. And so, with that background, I’d like to take the opportunity of Reagan’s time of year-not to mention the month of Presidents’ Day-to share an anecdote, told to me by Bill Clark, Reagan’s close friend and most significant adviser: Clark had served President Reagan as deputy secretary of state, national security adviser, and secretary of interior. As a senior official, he was required to have a driver to get him to appointments. Clark’s driver was a man named Joe Bullock, a Georgia native who moved to Washington during the Great Depression. Joe was a victim of the cruel Jim Crow laws that plagued the South. He went to Washington for a better life. Joe first found employment as a mule driver. He eventually traded in the animal for various senior people in the federal government, some of whom, including a high-level figure in the previous (Carter) administration, didn’t treat him well; in fact, that previous figure didn’t speak a word to Joe in three years. Thus, Joe was taken aback when Bill Clark not only talked to him, asking questions about his life and family, but also whether he could sit up front. Clark rode shotgun with Joe, creating not only a few stares but security concerns, as Clark, given his influence in national security, was a target of America’s enemies. One morning, Clark’s father visited Washington. He hit it off with Joe. Clark’s father was a rancher, a man of the West. He gave Joe a gift: a Western-style belt, with a kind of “John Wayne belt buckle,” as Clark described it. Joe loved it, proudly displaying it by always leaving his blue suit-jacket unbuttoned. That belt and buckle soon assumed a life of its own. There was an upcoming state visit by England’s Prince Philip. It was customary that the White House provide a gift. Clark and Reagan and a few others brainstormed following a morning briefing. Clark suggested a “Western belt.” He had one in mind, made by Si Jenkins, a Santa Barbara friend of both Clark and the president. (Reagan, too, was a California rancher.) “Well, what does it look like?” asked Reagan. Clark noted he had a model in the car: Joe, who was wearing the belt. “Send him up,” ordered the president. They called for Joe, who entered via the door of Reagan’s personal secretary. Joe had worked for the federal government for 50 years, but had never been within 50 yards of a president or the Oval Office. He walked in. He saw Clark, Vice President Bush, the senior aides, and the president of the United States. He was in awe, overcome. Suddenly, this tough 6’4″ man began weeping: He had come so far since Jim Crow and the Great Depression. He was choked up. No one in the room was prepared for that reaction. They were dead silent, uncomfortable, clueless to respond; except for Ronald Reagan. The president rose, walked over to the driver, extended his hand, breathed in, and said matter-of-factly, “Mr. Bullock, I understand you have a belt to show me?” It was an “everyman” touch. And it put old Joe immediately at ease. Business-like, Joe showed the belt, and then he and Reagan swapped stories, chatting away like old friends. “The rest of us just faded away,” said Bill Clark, “as the two got along famously.” President and driver, remembering the old days. Bullock left with a story to tell his fellow drivers, and his grandchildren. He died a few years later. No, this anecdote is nothing dramatic. It’s not like challenging Gorbachev to tear down the wall. It’s simply another of many small stories I hear constantly about Ronald Reagan. This was a good president and a good man. The White House needs more of them. That’s a thought worth bearing in mind this February, a month that marks not only Reagan’s birthday but Presidents’ Day.

After President Reagan left Office he spent most days in his Century City Office.

My B-I-L ran a Picture Framing Shop near Century City. One Day, President Reagan’s Office Manager came in to have some Pictures Framed to hang in the President’s Office and at the Reagan Ranch.

She came back a few times and then asked by B-I-L if he would mind coming in to the Office with some samples to show the President. It seemed that President Reagan wanted to make the choices himself rather than depending on his Staff to make the decisions.

My B-I-L jumped at the chance. As it ended up, he visited with the President at least once a Month. Needless to say, they did not just discuss what Picture Frames the President liked. They became very friendly. My B-I-L is the most non-political guy out there and to this day he has no idea how envious I am of him. He tells me that President Reagan was one of the nicest people he has ever known.

Now, the rest of the story. When my B-I-L’s Father was about to turn 80, my B-I-L wanted to do something special for him. The President’s Assistant arranged for his Father to meet the President after Business hours at the Century City Office.

On the arranged date, my B-I-L told his Father that he would be taking him and his Mother to Dinner. He took them to the Office Building and they met President Reagan’s Assistant in the Lobby. His Father was a bit confused but the thought this must be something special his Son had set up with what he figured was a Restaurant on the Top Floor. The Assistant didn’t let on and she took the three of them to a Private Elevator.

When the Elevator Door opened at the Office floor, there stood the President. My B-I-L thought his Father was going to faint when he realized who it was. The President greeted them warmly and took them on a tour of the Office. While my B-I-L and his Mother occupied themselves, his Father and the President spoke for a half hour or so, gazing at the City Views.

My B-I-L’s Father spoke of the time he spent with President Reagan until his dying day.

In this instance and the other times he spent with my B-I-L, President Reagan enjoyed hanging out with the “Little People”, simply because he never thought they were.

He was everything that phony lying SOB Obama isn’t.

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