8 roles

I think Obama's greatest strength as president will be in his role as chief diplomat. So far, it appears that even if he can't follow through on his promises, he is good at convincing people of his sincerity. Not that I don't believe that he's sincere. He is charismatic, and has already established himself as a more accesible president than usual to the rest of the world. His weakness in this list of roles may be that he is the head of his party. He can lead the Democrats into bipartisan deals, but as the head of the Democratic party, his efforts to bring both parties together are already weakened by his position. As head Democrat, he has some authority to influence stubborn members of his own party to try to compromise with Republicans. However, he has no such authority in the Republican party. Unless a strong Republican figure matches Obama's efforts and tries to lead his party into compromise, Obama's position as the leading Democrat will hamper his efforts.