President Barack Obama, part 2: How to adapt to changing rules
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2021
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
Creating a prototype in your garage isn't the same as leading a team of thousands. You need to keep your mission constant, but your tactics fluid as you scale. This is exactly the challenge President Barack Obama faced after winning the 2008 election. In the second episode of our two-part mini-series, we dive into how Obama grappled with the Great Recession once in office, what it took to secure the Affordable Care Act, and what was behind the disastrous roll out of the healthcare.gov website. Through it all, President Obama learned to let first principles guide the way, even as he and his staff adapted to new realities and changing rules.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now, |
| 0:07.8 | with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed. |
| 0:17.0 | We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time. |
| 0:24.8 | So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | I'll see you on the other side. |
| 0:34.0 | I said the day the health care bill passed, |
| 0:37.2 | you guys have to make this website work. |
| 0:41.3 | The only thing that matters right now is that this has to work. |
| 0:45.0 | That's the unmistakable voice of America's 44th president, Barack Obama. |
| 0:55.0 | We're back with part two of our special two-part episode, |
| 1:00.0 | and if you haven't listened to part one, go back and do that now. |
| 1:03.3 | We talked a bit in our last episode about President Obama's latest book, A Promised Land. |
| 1:08.6 | It's full of insights in the landmark events from his first term in office like the 2008 financial crisis |
| 1:14.5 | passing the Affordable Care Act and the raid on Osama bin Laden. |
| 1:19.0 | The president is working on volume two as we speak which will cover a second term but there's one second |
| 1:24.4 | term story that I couldn't help asking about anyway. |
| 1:27.1 | Health Care.gov which on the first pass of course was traditional |
| 1:31.6 | government. It was a disaster. |
| 1:34.0 | Disaster, right? |
| 1:37.0 | President Obama said it first, |
| 1:39.0 | so I don't feel too bad saying that the rollout of the healthcare exchange |
| 1:42.0 | marketplace wasn't just bad. |
... |
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