What Obama Shouldn’t Do

President-elect Barack Obama has made plenty of promises about what he’s going to do: provide tax relief to the middle class, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, invest in renewable energy, ensure that all children receive a first-rate education, and make health care accessible and affordable for every American—all while taming the nation’s monstrous deficit.

But as Peter Drucker made clear, Obama’s success may well hinge on what he chooses not to do.

It is absolutely crucial, Drucker wrote in a 1993 piece in which he dispensed a little management advice for the Oval Office, that any new President “not stubbornly do what he wants to do, even if it was the focus of his campaign.”

He noted that Harry Truman came into the Presidency convinced, “as were most Americans,” that he should begin tackling a string of domestic problems, what with the end of World War II at hand. “What made him an effective President,” said Drucker, “was his accepting within a few weeks that international affairs, especially the containment of Stalin’s worldwide aggression, had to be given priority whether he liked it or not (and he didn’t).