Presidential multitasking is needed

At a key moment in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama brushed aside John McCain's demand that the first presidential debate between the two men be postponed. McCain claimed that with the national economy spiralling into crisis he could not spare time for the distractions of campaigning.

"It's going to be part of the president's job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once," Obama replied, calling McCain's bluff. The debate went ahead as scheduled.

Not surprisingly, the first month of the Obama presidency has been devoted almost exclusively to the economy. But as time goes on, it will be increasingly difficult for the President to focus solely on economic recovery. Finding the right balance will be essential. It is still too early to say how the Middle East is going to fit into this picture.

It is often assumed that successful peacemaking in the Middle East is impossible without America's participation. Less often said, though equally true, is that the US plays a really useful role in the Middle East only when the president is clearly seen to be making the region a priority. But even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Obama wants Middle East peacemaking to be one of his major priorities is that really possible at a moment when everything is seen mainly through the prism of the economy?

This is a key point that a lot of people are only now beginning to grasp: For the next year or two absolutely every political initiative the administration launches is going to be judged mainly, if not exclusively, on the basis of how it advances economic recovery.

Take healthcare. President Bill Clinton's effort to remake the US's health system floundered in no small part because, in 1993, the majority of Americans had decent health insurance via their employers and saw no pressing need to overhaul the system. Today, far more people have jobs that do not offer health coverage and the dwindling number who do are afraid of being laid off. Breaking the link between health insurance and employment would offer some peace of mind to millions of Americans who have lost, or fear losing, their jobs. In doing so it can help rebuild confidence in the economic system as a whole.

Similar economic arguments can be made for investments in infrastructure and green jobs, for keeping trade flowing across borders and for ending the war in Iraq. For most Americans the economic benefits of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement are much harder to quantify. This is why the need for presidential multitasking is important. Obama has entrusted his foreign policy to weighty figures such as Hillary Clinton, George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke partly, one senses, in the hope that they will free him to concentrate his own energies elsewhere.

Ultimately, however, presidents matter and this president matters more than most. In ordinary times special envoys and secretaries of state derive much of their heft from the belief that the president is seriously engaged in the issues and programmes they promote. The president may not personally get very deeply involved, but if it is understood that he cares and wants something to succeed his surrogates will be treated seriously (think of James Baker III). When, on the other hand, a lack of presidential attention signals a lack of presidential interest the air will go out of even the most dogged of diplomats (think of Warren Christopher).

The problem for Obama's people is that this president overshadows his senior officials in a way the US has not seen since the early days of the Kennedy administration. It is, I think, safe to say that Obama is now the most famous person on the planet. The inauguration with its estimated two million people in attendance was astonishing. In some ways, however, the speech Obama gave last July in Berlin was even more extraordinary. Is their any other politician in the world who could get a turnout of 200,000 on foreign soil? Especially considering that at the time he was merely a candidate, not actually president?

Delegating authority is especially hard when one's own celebrity so dramatically overshadows one's envoys. This can, however, be turned to the president's advantage if it is managed carefully. Since Obama is the person everyone wants to see - and to be seen with - access to the President and the White House is even more of a reward than it traditionally was. Make Obama's celebrity one of the tools of American "soft power".

Like the economic crises Obama faces, this will involve an element of improvisation. But as candidate, Obama said way back in September, you need to be able to multitask. Because as overarching a problem as the economy is, and will continue to be, the world's crises are not going to go away. And American leadership is something many people are expecting from the new president.

Gordon Robison is a writer and commentator based in Burlington, Vermont. He has lived in and reported on the Middle East for two decades.