Following the collapse of the budget supercommittee, a story about Ronald Reagan comes to mind.<\/p>\n
It was early in his first term as governor of California. \u00a0Two aides \u2013 I believe Lynn Nofziger was one \u2013 took him to lunch and gave him a lecture.<\/p>\n
Forget you\u2019re a movie star, they told him. \u00a0Forget all the national talk about you. \u00a0And forget about going home each and every night at five. \u00a0You have to get to know the legislators, especially the leaders, especially the Democrats. \u00a0You have to have drinks with them. \u00a0Tell jokes with them. \u00a0They have to get to know you, like you, and trust you.<\/p>\n
Reagan followed their instructions in Sacramento and later in Washington. \u00a0His famous statement about Tip O\u2019Neill, \u201cWe\u2019re friends after five o\u2019clock,\u201d was the DC translation of that Sacramento lesson.<\/p>\n
Reagan\u2019s success as a political leader had many elements, but, particularly when it came to working with the California Assembly and the U.S. Congress, heeding that lunchtime lecture was a big part of the story.<\/p>\n
Now contrast Reagan\u2019s approach with President Obama\u2019s. \u00a0Chris Matthews discussed the Obama method in a surprising interview on MsNBC\u2019s \u00a0\u201cOffice Politics\u201d the other day. \u00a0The clip made tv.Breitbart.com. \u00a0Google \u201cBreitbart, Chris Matthews\u201d and you will find it.<\/p>\n
The tingle is no longer running up Matthew\u2019s leg. \u00a0\u201cI hear stories you would not believe,\u201d Matthews tells the interviewer. \u00a0Basically, the president will have nothing to do with members of Congress, even those of his own party. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t call. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t write. \u00a0Matthews continues, \u201cI keep asking them, when did you hear [from the president] last? \u00a0Silence. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t like their company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are two more contrasting stories, Reagan and Obama.<\/p>\n
Reagan once explained to Washington Post <\/em>reporter and later biographer Lou Cannon what he had learned as a union leader in Hollywood. \u00a0\u201cThe purpose of a negotiation,\u201d he said, \u201cis to get an agreement.\u201d \u00a0As much as he was known as a successful bargainer, he would split off issues, drop positions, set aside areas of contention, in order to isolate and maximize areas of commonality. \u00a0This is how big-time politicians work. \u00a0They focus on items of agreement and cut, shape, and obfuscate in other areas — and take a collective bow at the end.<\/p>\n Now think of what Steve Jobs said about Mr. Obama. \u00a0This story comes from the recent Walter Isaacson biography. \u00a0You have probably heard it by now.<\/p>\n Over dinner with the president, Jobs pushed about addressing immigration reform, particularly dealing with the urgent question of allowing graduate students in engineering and other scientific and technical disciplines to stay in the United States after completing their studies. \u00a0The president brushed him aside saying that he had put a comprehensive reform package on the table and all elements of reform would have to wait on the passage of that omnibus bill. \u00a0He kept giving us reasons why things could not happen, Jobs recalled.<\/p>\n