Obama and the ‘Mr. Chicken Complex’

The Washington Post’s Anne E. Kornblut
says President Obama’s new man, Pete “The Fixer” Rouse, was once described by
Obama as “completely ego-free.” Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary, is
already ego-free. Or he appears to be. Better than being weak, malleable and
fawning. I’m not sure they really understand what “ego-free” means. Possibly
they think of Rahm Emanuel as “egotistical” and Rouse the Fixer as the opposite
or the anti-Emanuel. Emanuel is not egotistical. He is brash and aggressive. “Pushy,”
as Executive Secretary Ida Blankenship said last week just before she died. It
is different. But the choice to replace him with Rouse presents a flawed
management model.

A secondary dog is not really “egoless,” or should not be. Such a person would
be mud. They are or should be keen of wit; sensory. Probably introverted and
sensory. They are inner guide and shaman to the Extrovert as Tonto is to the
Lone Ranger or Merlin is to Arthur. Or the Irish gardener in “The Ghost and Mr.
Chicken.” (Don Knotts starred in the 1966 classic. The quiet adviser is
classically portrayed in American folklore as an Irish gardener or an angel.) The
one sees in, the other sees out. Thus they need each other.

But Obama is no Arthur. He himself prefers quiet and would probably be a good
Merlin to Colin Powell if he were president or Elizabeth Warren if she were
president or Rahm Emanuel if he were mayor of Chicago. That is why Obama prefers
the quiet pretention of Harvard Yard to the brawling shirtsleeves of Fenway
Park and doesn’t understand why it makes ordinary people so mad, so he thinks
common people are boorish.

Emanuel might be a good mayor for Chicago. He was a bad fit for this White
House, as he was Alpha Dog without a pack. The only thing they all had in
common was that they were all from Chicago. Which doesn’t work outside Chicago.
(Like Tim Hortens coffee shops outside of Canada.) I know Chicago. I like it. It
costs five dollars to fix a ticket where the same bride will cost $150 in Boston.

There is a neurosis in the White House. What you want is an Arthur/Merlin
relationship. The naturally aggressive chief executive out front and the quiet
introvert advising. If you don’t have it you get the “Mr. Chicken complex”
(which I made up), in which leadership is a ghost. Meaning the movie, not the
excellent restaurants with the big chicken statues in Ohio. But Emanuel was the
aggressive executive, and Obama the introspective and pensive professor. What
he could do for Emanuel in Chicago is write those great speeches that he gives.
It is Merlin’s job. Obama would be the perfect adviser to Emanuel in the
Chicago job.

As far as personality type and management models go, they had been getting it
backwards. Now it will be worse for Obama with Rouse, but as is suggested in
the Kornblut piece, it looks like a temporary deal. If Obama/Emanuel was a
backwards Merlin/Arthur Introvert/Extrovert management model with the Introvert
dominating, you could call Obama/Rouse a Merlin/Merlin model. Two (or more)
small dogs and no big dog. Colleges are like that.

But that Obama with Emanuel saw his sidekick instead of himself as the
aggressor is not good. And he sees that in Elizabeth Warren as well.