The president’s ever-growing to-do list
No one can deny that President Obama’s current to-do list has grown dramatically of late, with each new item seemingly demanding higher precedence than the item before it. With two wars, unemployment, the Middle East Crisis and the oil spill, how does one person manage this kind of agenda?
Presidential historian, author and former special assistant to President George H.W. Bush, Doug Wead says, “No president can be an expert on everything.”
Wead believes U.S. presidents have to be experts on getting elected and then surround themselves with people who are experts on the issues that arise during the presidency. Presidents can then tackle their agendas with help from these experts and an ability to prioritize. The New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, David Sanger, joins the conversation about Obama’s agenda: perhaps the longest presidential to-do list in U.S. history.
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