CNN political analyst says Obama has potential but may not have enough toughness

CNN political analyst David Gergen said Thursday that President Barack Obama has enormous potential but questioned whether Obama is tough enough.

Part of being a president is understanding how to wield power, Gergen told about 900 people at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Gergen lamented what he called deep divisions in the country and the lack of civility in national political discussions, and he asked whether the current generation will leave the country worse for future generations.

"I think that's a real possibility," Gergen said.

Before the speech, Gergen sat down for an interview with the Star-Telegram.

In the preface to your book Eyewitness to Power, you wrote that bad leadership was largely to blame for the Great Depression and the world wars. What leadership failings led to last year's financial calamity and recession?

Bad judgment drove the leaders of major American companies to borrow far more than they should have and to engage in far more speculation than they should have. There were other forces, including politicians in Washington, who encouraged homeownership by portions of the population that really could not afford the homes they moved into. The press didn't see this coming. Too many of us in the press became cheerleaders. We lionized CEOs as opposed to looking at them a little more skeptically.

You've discussed in your columns creating codes of conduct for business leaders and professional boards of enforcement. What rules should these codes contain? And what enforcement powers should the boards have?

I was enormously encouraged last spring when students at the Harvard Business School took it upon themselves to write an oath that they would take upon graduation. About two-thirds of the class pledged that in their business careers they would be true not only to shareholders but to society at large. And other business schools are following this as a model. Beyond that, it would be far better to have corporations take the lead and to show some restraint and prudence in the way they run their companies. That depends very heavily upon the boards and especially the independent directors exercising significant authority. The government inevitably is going to play a larger role. We're heading into an era of greater regulation and greater scrutiny by the federal government.

You've lamented the tone of the healthcare debate, and you've written that Obama was in danger of being tuned out by the public on the topic. Despite the intensity of town hall meetings, recent polls seem to show a majority of Americans support a public option and are wary of insurance companies. What do you think has changed as far as the public perception?

I think that President Obama was very successful in returning to the hustings in September and stabilizing public opinion. It was definitely sliding over the course of the summer. The country is pretty divided still, and I think it's going to be important when they get a bill for him to return to the hustings and see if he can get more public support. It's risky to pass major social legislation in the face of these deep divisions in the country. There's going to be big tendency for the Republicans to unravel or repeal pieces of it later on without great public support.

You have worked for a Democratic and three Republican presidents. Who do you think was the most effective? What strategies could President Obama learn from the most effective president?

Ronald Reagan was the most effective leader in the White House since Franklin Roosevelt. Whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies, he was an exceptional leader. A significant part of that was his contagious optimism. He had great faith in what the country could become. He encouraged others to share that faith. And people liked him.