ABSTRACT
Barack Hussein Obama II was elected the forty-fourth president of the United States on a tidal wave of public support in 2008. Among a sea of compliments, Obama was internationally praised for his political brand and his verbal skills. However, assuming office in January 2009 introduced President Obama to a whole new set of social, political and logistical constraints he did not have to deal with beforehand. Studies in political marketing suggest this underpins the reasoning behind a relatively new trend in Western democracies: political leaders gaining political office using market-oriented behavior, but losing their positive public image once there. It is suggested that being in government drastically intensifies the dilemma between whether leaders should lead or follow the opinions of the public that elected them. Notably, if governing leaders want to lead, and thus achieve notable change, they inevitably have to make many decisions that contradict public opinion. For this reason, among others, governing leaders have found it difficult to maintain high levels of public support over time. However, recent research also suggests that governing leaders may be able to maintain a better, more market-oriented image if they use communication strategies that emphasizes listening, reflexivity and authenticity, while also promoting the attributes associated with strong leadership. This chapter examines if and how contemporary political leaders are adopting new political communication strategies during their time in office in an attempt to alleviate some of the problems faced by their recent predecessors.
