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Posted On 03.27.09

President Obama has been ruffling feathers as of late.

Ever since he’s stepped foot into office, he’s been breaking the rules and doing things that “shouldn’t” be done; things that 43 other Presidents before him have never attempted or tried because they’ve been told “no, you can’t.”

  • He refused to give up his Blackberry. “Sir, it’s not safe,” they said. “Make me a new one that is,” was the reply. Obama still carries a Blackberry.
  • He went on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, something no active President has ever done. “Have some respect for the office of the President!” they said. Obama went on anyway, giving real people a chance to hear him speak candidly about complex political issues. Plus, we all got to see that Obama is, “a real dude,” as a friend of mine said. It was Leno’s fourth highest audience ever and it tripled the Tonight Show’s average nightly audience.
  • He built a playground outside the Oval Office for his kids, Sasha and Malia. Apparently this made some people uncomfortable. Now Obama gets to watch his kids play while he leads the free world.
  • He puts his weekly national addresses on YouTube, giving people 24-7 access to what’s going on in the government.
  • He spoke Farsi (a native language in many Muslim countries) to a group of Iranians wishing them a happy new year.
  • He initiated Data.gov, a website that will give anyone with a web browser access to information on anything from how the U.S. government is structured internally to agricultural statistics.
  • Sometimes, he doesn’t wear a jacket in the Oval Office; a rule that has been in place since the Reagan years. (To some this is a very big deal.)

Like him or not, Obama is a significant player in the cultural change that is occurring here in the U.S. (and abroad, for that matter.) Plus, I like the fact that our President is willing to break the rules. Not in an obnoxious way, but in a way that says, “I understand this is how things have always been. I appreciate and respect that. But that’s not how they’re going to stay any longer.

What things in your life are you re-thinking? How are you changing the way “things have always been done”? How are you thinking differently about today?

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Comments

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March 27, 2009 6:11 pm

This post was kick ass. Nice one.

Finally, a President that is REALLY changing the rules and being accessible to us. It's extremely comforting.

Thanks for this post - I learned more about our President.

-Jamie Varon

March 28, 2009 1:04 am

I guess I have to question what cultural shift you're referring to. Yes, Obama is definitely more technologically savvy than most on the hill. If you're referring to a shift away from the status quo, I have to disagree. I think this shift is artificial and isn't grass roots enough to maintain itself as a cultural shift. I only say that because I am seeing a strong push for conservative values at the same time.

Rather than a shift, I see it as a cyclical change. After two terms of one side ruling, naturally their opponents will rise up and in this case have succeeded. This has happened in the US for decades and will continue to happen.

Justin Wise
March 28, 2009 10:00 am

@Steve: I can understand the thought behind the cyclical change you reference. I can also see conservatives making progressive steps to adopt the same technological means of communication that liberals have typically embraced.

I think the main thing to keep in mind is that Obama is probably the first postmodern President that the U.S. has ever had. He is the first to embrace a different SET of values, not just a different viewpoint within the traditional set of values. He, for lack of a better term, is a Milennial (at least in thinking and lifestyle anyway.) Obama, as President, works to live, he doesn't live to work.

Good points....

Alicia
March 28, 2009 3:17 pm

I honestly don't understand this type of sychophantic praise. It's downright creepy to me that what you observe here seems to have such undeserved significance. I mean Thank God he carries that Blackberry (otherwise our president might be left with any form of electronic communication); Jay Leno (yeah -- no sitting President has appeared on ane entertainment television show like. . . SNL. . . oh crap they have); playgrounds and weekley addresses broadcast on the latest for form of mass media, (like radio addresses from FDR weren't the equivalent); foreign tongue as a gesture of respect to foreign peoples -- unheard of (well other than every other president -- including the evil Bush or Reagan); sometimes not wearing a jacket in the oval office -- how scandalous! Can we raise the bar and talk about the Jonas brothers twittering?

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