Obama adopts sober style as he gets ready

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bill Clinton could erupt in red-faced rage while George W. Bush had his Texas swagger. So far, President-elect Barack Obama has ditched lofty rhetoric in favor of a sober style as he prepares to take power.

Obama’s public appearances since he was elected on November 4 have been largely limited to a series of news conferences to announce members of his incoming administration.

In these events, the 47-year-old former Illinois senator has announced his choices and described their tasks in a workmanlike manner, as if weighed down by the economic and national security challenges that await him.

His campaign rhetoric was long on hope and idealism but since defeating Republican John McCain, Obama has focused on the task at hand and avoided straying from his talking points.

“The magnitude of what the country faces would bring down anybody’s rhetoric,” said Dartmouth College political scientist Linda Fowler. “The whole point I think is to not create expectations that the administration can’t meet.”

Americans so far approve. A Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday gave Obama a 65 percent approval rating, meaning he has picked up support from many who did not vote for him.

During the campaign, the candidate and his staff clung to a “no-drama Obama” style. They never got too excited or too upset about the daily combat, instead taking a long view.

That discipline continues.

SELF-CONTAINED

The only time Obama has gotten ruffled was when a Chicago Tribune reporter asked him about the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged scheme to sell the Senate seat Obama had vacated when he won the White House.

“Let me stop you right there because I don’t want you to waste your question,” he said.

By contrast, Clinton could get downright testy with the media, while Bush stayed cool and folksy.

“This fellow is very self-contained,” said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at George Washington University. “He’s very disciplined. In some ways he’s the un-Clinton.”

In an interview with Time magazine, Obama said he does occasionally get angry but that, “I’m not a shouter.”

When he gets rankled by his staff, he said, he tries to make them feel guilty.
“Hollering at people isn’t usually that effective. Now, there are exceptions. There are times where guilt doesn’t work, and then you have to use fear,” he said.

Obama has methodically put together what most experts consider to be strong economic and foreign policy teams to confront a deepening recession and national security challenges that include fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In doing so, he has repeatedly stressed that Bush is still in charge.

“What he’s trying to do is lay the foundation; to say ‘we know what we’re doing, we’re going to hit the ground running on January 20,’” said Democratic strategist Jim Duffy.

“There’s nothing fancy about it. He’s just taken this period to try to reassure people that ‘I can in fact get something done when I have the power,’” he said.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, editing by Alan Elsner)