BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

In the early 19th Century, as the country was expanding into its midsection, Chicago played second fiddle to a town 175 miles to the West. There, the Rev. George Washington Gale had founded an institution dedicated to his missionary zeal and political enlightenment called Knox College.

Galesburg, located halfway between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers on some of the richest farmland in the world, became an early social and economic center in Illinois.

Galesburg served as the crossroads of two giant railroads, the Santa Fe and the Burlington Northern.

The railroads brought wealth and prestige to the burg, with stately homes with rich architecture and richer occupants, along wide streets paved with bricks from the local ovens. Galesburg became a hub for another railroad, the Underground Railroad that served as an escape route for slaves from the South.  

Knox College would host the great Lincoln-Douglas debate at which Lincoln’s sometimes confusing stand on slavery was crystallized. Galesburg would produce the Ferris Wheel, a newspaper dynasty, a basketball powerhouse, and the poet, historian, and journalist Carl Sandburg (who as legend would have it, called Galesburg the literary armpit of the nation and moved to Chicago).

In the first half of the 20th Century, Galesburg was supported by an economy based solidly on blue-collar manufacturing and farming.

Galesburg eventually lost its footing. The Windy City became the crown jewel of the Midwest while Galesburg slipped into the shadows of Chicago, Springfield, Decatur, and Peoria. The population never rose above 45,000 people. Today there are 10,000 fewer inhabitants. And the factories—Admiral, Gates Rubber, Maytag, Gale Products, Butler?  They’re all gone. The once muscle-bound manufacturing base atrophied and died for numerous reasons, but by no small measure because overbearing labor unions and meddlesome government created an environment in which manufactures such as Gates Rubber said to hell with it and left. They started to leave in the 1960s and 70s and the last, Maytag, early in this century.

The rich farmland is still producing corn and soybeans, but agriculture hasn’t been an economic utopia since the mid-1970s.

Young Senator Barack Obama came to Galesburg in 2005 to deliver a commencement speech at Knox College that would provide the early brushstrokes of his socio-economic vision for America. He probably knew then that he wouldn’t accomplish much in the Senate, and in fact he didn’t. No doubt, even then he had his sights set on the White House where he did have a shot at transforming America, socially and economically, and restoring towns like Galesburg to their once glorious past. But in fact he hasn’t done that, either.

President Obama was back at Knox College last week, eight long years later, tweaking the vision and launching yet another nationwide public relations campaign. The short-term goal, his aides say, is to fortify his base for new budget battles with his Republican nemeses in Congress this fall. But his words suggest a longer-term, legacy goal of retaking the higher intellectual and ideological ground of modern-day socialist progressivism, as White House spokesman and columnist E.J. Dionne wrote recently to influence “the actions of the presidents who follow.”

The story of Galesburg is instructive in all of this, maybe more so than the President’s speech, because it is the story of many Midwestern towns and cities, and a vivid reminder of why the Obama vision is still just a vision.

Galesburg residents are still struggling like their neighbors in much of the rest of the country. Galesburg’s unemployment rate is slightly higher than the national average of 7.6 percent. When the President was last there in 2005 national unemployment was 5 percent. Illinois’s fiscal condition is abysmal. Taxes are too high. Productivity is too low. Governor Pat Quinn is so unpopular he’s being challenged in his own party.

Economic recovery is one of the slowest in American history, whether you live in Galesburg, Illinois or Galesburg, Michigan, and what recovery is taking place is in spite of the President and the Congress, not because of anything they’ve done.

President Obama, regrettably, is doing what he has always done. When he should be in Washington governing, he leaves Washington to reinforce the illusion of governing.

There are five key elements to governance: (1) creating a vision, a path forward; (2) inspiring a critical mass behind it; (3) creating an environment in which change can occur; (4) achieving change; and (5) ensuring its longevity.

The President rarely gets behind step two.

What’s worse, instead of creating an environment in which change can take place, he more often than not poisons the environment so change cannot occur. He’s doing it again, in his cross-country revival.

He’s condemning the place in which he works–Washington, insulting the people with whom he must work, and advocating an agenda that can’t work. He’s done it on the road from Osawatomie, Kansas, to Galesburg Illinois, to Roanoke, Virginia, creating an environment in which change cannot take place, and in so doing, mirroring the actions of those on the right edge of the political spectrum who he condemns.

He is a President who paints masterful perceptions, but rejects reality. He is in hot pursuit of a legacy of visionary leadership, of inspirational thought and transformational ideas, knowing full well that such a broad and visionary legacy is in direct conflict with his ability to govern. He cannot do both.

That, of course, is the Achilles heel of the left foot and the right. Those on the far right have no intention of governing, either.

When Barack Obama leaves office, will the people of Galesburg, who were so inspired by his words, be the benefactors of his governance? Not likely. They, like the rest of us, will have lost so much ground, so much promise, so much progress in the eight years of painful recession and stagnant recovery, ideas and ideology won’t matter much to anyone.

Editor’s Note: Mike Johnson is a former journalist, who worked on the Ford White House staff and served as press secretary and chief of staff to House Republican Leader Bob Michel, prior to entering the private sector. He is co-author of a book, Surviving Congress, a guide for congressional staff. He is currently a principal with the OB-C Group.