ABSTRACT
In an interview with Jim Lehrer on PBS’s The News Hour on February 27, 2009, President Barack Obama stated that his decisions were not based on public opinion: “You know, I don’t-I don’t make these decisions based on polls or popularity. I make the decisions based on what I think is best. This is consistent with what I said during the campaign. The fact-if anything, I think people should be interested in the fact that there’s been a movement in the direction of what I thought was going to be the right plan in the first place.” In his response, Obama acknowledged the inherent dilemma facing the modern presidency: How do you lead in a representative democracy where every miniscule decision receives a critique?
