The RS 100: Agents of Change : Rolling Stone

1 | Barack Obama

The symbol of change for our time — we all have a stake in his success

WHAT HE'S CHANGING: The every-man-for-himself ethos of the Reagan Revolution, in favor of a greater idea of America: We're all in this together. The change is reflected in the successes of his first six weeks — the largest-ever middle-class tax cut, passed with the stimulus; his extension of health care to 4 million children; and the act he signed to bring fair pay to working women. "He has already brought about an amazing amount of constructive change," Al Gore tells Rolling Stone. "And he has succeeded in greatly expanding the limits of what is now considered possible." The crises Obama faces in domestic and foreign policy are immense, but his opportunity to implement sweeping change is similarly historic. "He has a capacity to do so much in the next eight years that he'll leave behind a very different understanding of what government can be — and of America itself," says Simon Rosenberg, president of the Democratic think tank NDN.

FRIENDS SAY: "I've learned to trust his judgment on how to build a coalition for change," says Gore. "We all have a great stake in Obama's success, because his success equals the country's success — Rush Limbaugh notwithstanding."

SIGNATURE MOVE: Going big or going home. Instead of an insurance crisis — affecting only those without it — he frames the health care debate as a crisis in cost, one that affects all Americans. Same thing with climate change, says Gore: "He's combined the four important elements of the solution — cap and trade, a renewable-energy standard, the efficiency and conservation measures, and the electricity superhighway — into one measure, which gives him a chance to overcome the rear-guard efforts of special interests determined to pick things apart."

LEADERSHIP STYLE: "In a meeting," Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, told RS, "Barack asks everybody in the room what they think, regardless of where you fall in the hierarchy. He focuses, he prods, he pushes, to make sure that he fully understands your position."

KEY QUOTE: "I wish I had the luxury of just dealing with a modest recession or just dealing with health care or just dealing with energy or just dealing with Iraq or just dealing with Afghanistan. I don't have that luxury, and I don't think the American people do, either."

SEE THE CHANGE: Whitehouse.gov