by Nicholas Whitwell, 2014
Introduction
Political leaders in the last decade have been arguably, remarkably similar in their development, disposition and achievements, and could be categorized into one of two groups; Conservatives and Moderates. The Progressives of the early and middle 1900’s have all but disappeared. The exception is the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Elected in 2008 as the first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama has become the representation of hope and change across the Western World. While his time in the U.S. Senate has been brief, he has made a miraculous change in the cultural attitudes and behaviours of developed western nations towards people of colour ( Remnick, 2011) and enacted one of the most progressive reforms in history, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obama, 2008). President Obama has defined his rise to and incumbency as President, with a leadership style that can only be defined as transformational and charismatic. Barack Obama’s passion for progressive government and social justice is deeply rooted in his childhood, belief in affirmative action and experience with poverty stricken Chicago’s South Side (Remnick, 2011).
Biography
President Barack Obama’s life has forged in him a profound respect for diversity and an unyielding sense of social justice. His life has been a repetition of experiences and themes that have enabled him to see beyond the immediate future and inspire hope and change. President Obama’s childhood was primarily spent in Hawaii, though it also has significant elements of Indonesia; additionally his broken and mixed race family have played an essential role in forming his leadership practices. Affirmative action and college acceptance have also played their role in allowing a young man of colour to attend the most prestigious tertiary education institutions on the planet, further crafting in the 44th President his style of charismatic and transformational leadership. Weaving a career in both community organisation and elected politics, Barack found himself being reinforced with ideas of transforming his constituents through the power granted to him by them, a prime example of transformational leadership (Bass, 1995).
Born in 1961, Honolulu Island, Hawaii, Obama though would soon be moved to Indonesia and then move back to the island state. Barack was born in a time where Hawaii was considered beyond the reach of racial segregation, ideal for the child of a white mother (Ann Dunham) and Kenyan father (Barack Obama Snr) (Obama, 2004). By the time Barack was six years old his father had disappeared and his mother had moved to Indonesia to study her thesis, a mixed race family was now broken and by most modern standards, Barrack was considered disadvantaged (Kerwin et al, 1993). Accounts of Ann Dunham though by Barack (2004) and Remnick (2011) describe her as a woman of unwavering curiosity, adventure and love; instilling in her son these same traits, all indicative of transformational leadership. Whilst living as a very young child in Indonesia, Barack was taught both English and basic Javanese, displaying a fine dedication to education. Though today Barack retains little of his Indonesian language skills, President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono commented to the Jakarta Post; “He addressed me with, ‘Apa Kabar Bapak President?’ (How are you Mr. President?), in fluent Indonesian,” (Zimmer, 2009). This indicated that Barack, who had long since left Indonesia, had the cultural respect but also personal temerity and narcissism to attempt communicating with the president of a foreign country, in a language that was not his own. Deluga (1997) suggest that presidential narcissism leads to “charisma, creativity, war avoidance and great decisions…”. All indicators of presidents that are held in high regard, despite displays of narcissism.
Despite Barack’s ‘disadvantaged’ family situation, he attended some of the most prestigious schools in the U.S.A., including Punahou School, Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School (Remnick, 2011 & Obama, 2004). Barack Obama was the recipient of significant ‘Affirmative Action’, he was after graduating high school, a ‘B’ student, he did not have the grades nor money to attend colleges as prestigious Columbia University or Harvard (Remnick, 2011). Barack on his part does not disparage the contributions of Affirmative Action on his life; instead he has fought to ensure a ‘colour blind’ approach is not adopted towards education. A ‘colour blind’ education system would prevent the current state of racial disparity and unequal opportunities for children of African American families becoming ignored (Shuford, 2009). Obama’s stance on Affirmative Action provides an undeniable exemplar of transformative leadership, he empowers his followership with intellectual stimulation and idealised influence (Bass, 1995).
Barack’s life as a public servant has been tumultuous and relatively brief in comparison to many others who aspire to become president. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Obama’s entry into the political arena was swift. He first ran successfully into the Illinois State Senate and where for six years he represented the people of the 13th district (Obama, 2004). This was not all positive though, Barack was consider not ‘black enough’ to truly be accepted by other African Americans, because of his elite education and mixed heritage. Also he made a political mistake when he challenged the popular Bobby Rush for his Federal Senate seat. By doing so he ostracized himself from his fellow Democratic Party African American’s further and found himself an outsider (Remnick, 2011). Barack’s time in the political wilderness gave him time to refine his charisma and charm, he practiced speech craft and came to realize the power of narrative. Telling his life story became his signature pitch for election fund and support (Remnick, 2011). Shamir et al (2005) make the suggestion that the telling of a life story can help both the leader solidify their own self idea as a leader and influence the observed behaviours of their followership. Barack Obama has become masterful at using his life story to educate and inspire. However through the narcissism he displayed, he implicitly convinced and indoctrinated people into the Cult of Obama (Gabriel 1998).. These followers believed that only he could lead and inspire magnanimous change and provide hope for the future
Barack Obama was elected President of the United states on the 4th of November, 2008, after only four years in the Federal Senate, this was no act of Affirmative Action though, this was the use of narrative power and the mobilisation of the Cult of Obama. On the promise of change and hope, against the powers of feminism and tradition, Barack brought not only the United States of America under his sway but also the rest of the western world. With the ‘Yes We Can’ slogan Obama funnelled the ideas of reward, legitimate and referent power (French et al, 1959). By harnessing the motivations for dramatic change and empowering people to vote with an army of community organisers, Barack Obama swept into the White House with the highest number of votes of any Presidential candidate in history.
Analysis of Leadership Style
Barack Obama has displayed over the course of his two terms as president numerous leadership styles, he has shown himself to be the ultimate transformational and charismatic leader. He has also shown though that he suffers from narcissistic behaviour, not though at the expense of his decision making and integrity, Barack Obama is the ultimate productive narcissist. Maccoby (2003) gives a description of productive narcissists; “They are gifted and creative strategists who see the big picture and find meaning in risky propositions to changing the world and leaving behind a legacy. We look to productive narcissists in times of great transition because they have the audacity to push through the massive transformations that society periodically undertakes.”
Barack Obama used the end of the Bush administration to perfectly align himself with the attitudes of middle class Americans. The Bush administration had caused a “deep seated anger and anxiety with politics” ( Remnick, 2011). Barack took the opportunity to use his name, his message ‘The audacity of hope’ and the generational change in racial attitudes to position himself as the only acceptable candidate for real change within the United States. Barack in his presidential ticket mastered productive narcissism, he took his own self belief and turned it into transformational leadership.
Rosenthal et al (2006) describes narcissism in extended detail, related to Obama though, three major points are clear. Barack had a preoccupation with success, fantasised about the position of president and arguably required excessive admiration. Barack during his time at both Columbia University and Harvard law School aspired to success in not only his academia but also his co-curricular activity, almost to the expense of his family (Obama, 2004). Secondly he was never satisfied with the positions he was elected to as a public official, the Illinois Senate according to Remnick (2011) “bored him” and he challenged a sitting Democrat (Bobby Rush) for his Federal Senate seat. Lastly President Obama and his election team specifically targeted an international community during his election campaign for President. While they were a non-voting block of his followership, the international community provided Barack with a sense of legitimate and referent power. He and his team created the illusion and near religious fervour that he was the expected candidate to win, he deserved to win. This addition of the international community into the Cult of Obama is a prime example of the 44th President requiring excessive admiration.
Barack Obama’s narcissism though is held in check by his maturity and security of identity. He has as previously discussed powered through his narcissism in order to become a charismatic and transformational leader. He fulfils Conger & Kanugo’s (2000) requirements of charismatic leadership with clear vision for the future, unrelenting convictions, responsible self confidence and unique behaviours that empower his followership. Combined with Bass’s ( 1995) definition of transformational leadership “Transformational leaders are visionaries who motivate and inspire individuals to satisfy followers needs and wants” Barack Obama’s leadership style is perhaps the most well rounded and motivational of any political leader currently on the world stage.
Sources of Power
A key element of all leadership styles is power and a leaders’ sources of power. In order to fully understand how power operates between a leader and a followership it is prevalent to understand the definition of power as a relationship between parties. Foucault stresses that power is not a thing, instead it is a relation between persons and only exists when it is being exercised (Farrell, 2005). This leads then to agency, and the notion that power as a relation can only exist when both parties have sufficient agency to exercise power; ie, slavery is not power (Farrell, 2005). Barack Obama and his followership have sufficient agency and therefore it can be assumed that Foucault’s definition is applicable to the relationship between him and his followership. Fennell (1999) expands this idea further by breaking power down into three categories each of which has relevance to Barack Obama, power over, power through, and power with. French and Raven (1959) also contribute to an understanding of power sources by establishing five types of power which the president has successfully manipulated into the formation of the Cult of Obama.
As President of the United States Barack Obama has to know the limits and reach of his influence and therefore his relations with people and the power that operates between himself and his constituents. Fennell’s (1999) presentation of three different levels of power production are especially relevant to the President of the United States. Domination or power over, is the most simplistic expression of a presidents power. It is the raw application of control and interest to force an intended objective. The President of the United States has the power of veto, Obama has only enacted the power of veto twice, displaying reluctant use of his dominating ‘power over’ ability (Kalil, 2012). He has however threatened to veto bills that threaten his own signature health care act; an example of the previously mentioned narcissism (Washington Post, 2013). More so though, President Obama has relied upon facilitation or power through to achieve his goals of social justice and change. The implementation of Obamacare as a national health plan enabled people to more fully choose private health care or government provided health care. This enabling of decision activated a broader agency of public choice and opportunity (Obama, 2008). Additionally Barack has become renowned for being a master mediator and his foreign policy has reflected a more ‘stepping back’ approach and assisting in discussions when approached, more in line with a global citizen than previously under the Bush administrations interventionist policy (Remnick, 2011).
As power acts as a relationship between parties, those relationships can be categorised into French and Raven’s (1959) definitions. Of the five types of power that French and Raven (1959) describe, Barack Obama is significantly involved in three of them; Reward power, legitimate power and referent power. In order to become president Barack Obama had to first create an identity with his followership through referent power. He had to convince white voters that they could identify with an African American from a broken family, and lower and middle class voters that his elite education didn’t relegate them from his care. His next step was creating a sense of legitimate power, that he had the right to the presidency. Describing himself and Millennials as the ‘Joshua Generation’ Obama drew on religious connotations of following the Baby Boomers and Generation X (or the Moses Generation) in the fight for Civil Rights, despite the fact that Obama himself was born in 1961. His description created a religious ideology that Obama as Joshua was destined to succeed Martin Luther King Jnr or Moses as the leader of the Civil Rights movement. With both of these ideas established within the Cult of Obama, a process of Reward Power was enacted; whereby if Barack Obama was voted into power, America, and the world would be rewarded with absolution from the tyranny of the Bush administration, civil rights crimes of the past and, social justice that would assuage American national narcissistic insecurities.
Conclusion
Evidence from analysis suggests that Barack Obama has successfully navigate his own narcissism through a maturity and clear self identity. This maturity and self identity has helped him to forge a charismatic leadership style that is fundamentally transformational. The critique of Barack Obama has lead me to refine my own leadership position in one major way; I will attempt to be more mature about my own narcissism; recognising it and attempting to turn it into productive narcissism through channelling my own self belief into positive outcomes for others (Maccoby, 2003). Barack Obama is a master of persuasion and has crafted a Cult of Obama who idolises him as both a near religious saviour of American ideals and a Civil Rights activist. His powerful use of facilitation, and restraint in using domination, have endeared him to the global community. Barack Obama’s breadth of experience and positive power displays have created a world leader beyond his position of President of the United States. He is a leader that will be revered for centuries, he is a leader that knows his limits, he is a leader that has excelled in cementing his own legacy as perhaps the most beloved and level headed president of the last century.
Reference List
Conger, J. A., Kanungo, R. N. (2000). Charismatic leadership and follower effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(7), 747-767.
Farrell, C. (2005). Michel Foucault. London, England: Sage Publications.
Fennell, H (1999). Power in the principalship : four women’s experiences., Journal of Educational Administration, 37 (1) pp.23-49.
French, J., Raven, J. (1959) ‘Studies in social power’, in B Cartwright (Ed) pp. 150-167. Oxford, England: University of Michigan
Gabriel, Y. (1998) ‘The Use of Stories’, in G. Symon & C. Cassell (eds) Qualitative Methods and Analysis in Organizational Research, pp. 135–60. London, England: SAGE.
Remnick, D. (2011). The bridge: the life and rise of Barack Obama. NY, New York: Vintage Books.
Shamir, B., Dayan-Horesh, H and Adler, D (2005). Leading by biography : Towards a life-history approach to the study of leadership., Leadership 1 (1) pp.13-29.
“Who Shut Down Yellowstone? (Posted 2013-10-04 01:25:47) ; Democrats Have Been Unwilling to Compromise on Obamacare.” The Washington Post. Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive. 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2014 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-35202770.html
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