Barack Obama – Still Over His Head

A few weeks into his Presidency, President Obama had already had to throw Tom Daschle under the bus for tax problems, was taking heat for seating a tax-cheat, Timothy Geithner, as his treasury secretary, and several lesser luminaries he wanted for his administration had to back out because of tax problems. He had to break his own campaign promises about not allowing lobbyists roles in his administration by granting several waivers. He insulted one of our closest allies, Great Britain, by sending back a bust of Winston Churchill that had been a gift by the British government to the American President after 9/11, and had essentially snubbed British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on an official diplomatic trip to the United States. In an article I wrote at that time, I opined that Obama was "way over his head", an opinion for which I was excoriated by a couple of people and that lead me to being called a racist because I was "obviously judging him on his appearance."

Now, several months later, I see absolutely no reason to change my opinion. In the interim, Obama signed a hurriedly passed "stimulus" bill, breaking at least a couple more campaign promises on the way, that has failed to stimulate anything except the national debt and Democratic interest groups. He consistently sides with dictators and tyrants while insulting allies and ignoring democratic popular movements. Under his watch, North Korea continues to test missiles and atomic bombs and Iran, a regime that has vowed to destroy Israel AND the United States, openly defies international opinion to develop the atomic bomb. Under the Obama administration, the government now owns a large chunk of the domestic auto industry and, flouting existing protocol, the unions received favorable status over preferred shareholders to gain ownership of much of the remainder. Now, it looks like Chrysler and GM will be bankrupt again in about a year. Unemployment continues to climb and there is no end in sight. No matter what you think about the President's health care reform, he has shown himself particularly inept in getting it through Congress or creating a demand for it in the public. Now, the latest embarrassment was to fly to Copenhagen, tell the Olympic committee that they should award Chicago the Olympics primarily because he wants them.

It is time to realize that Barack Obama is the perfect embodiment of the Peter Principle - that a person rises to the level of their incompetence. He is an attractive man who reads a teleprompter well, but who is, at best, a mediocre politician. This should come as no surprise to us. While the left, and particularly the fringe media (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc.), fretted over Sarah Palin's inexperience for the Vice-Presidency, only being the governor of a state, they completely disregarded the lack of any real-life experience possessed by Obama.

This is a man who has never run a business in his life. His job prior to entering politics was as a community organizer, trying to see how much government money he could wrangle for his own special interest group. He was tagged early by the Chicago political machine (and no one runs machine politics like Chicago) as a potential star. He won his first election to the Illinois State Legislature after his three opponents were kicked off the ballot for technicalities in their ballot petitions - things like people printing their names rather than writing them, valid signatures but unregistered collectors, etc - which left him running unopposed. In his election for US Senate, his Democratic opponent withdrew after his "sealed" divorce papers were leaked to the press. In the general election, Republican Jack Ryan also withdrew after his "sealed" divorce papers were leaked, causing a scandal. What are the chances? Obama then made short work of carpetbagger, Alan Keyes, from Maryland.

In his short, less than one term, Senate career, Obama was totally unexceptional other than being named the Most Liberal Senator by National Journal Magazine in 2007. His big break onto the national scene was in delivering the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, thus demonstrating his prowess in reading a teleprompter. Obama was being groomed for the Presidency following a Hillary Clinton administration, in 2012 or 2016 but, apparently, the Democratic National Committee forgot to send him the memo.

There is no doubt that Obama is a brilliant campaigner. As Rush Limbaugh said, "He says nothing better than anyone." And it is true. On the campaign trail, a candidate can say whatever they like. You don't like lobbyists? There will be none in my administration. Want Guantanamo closed? It will be within a year. We will withdraw from Iraq within a year. Afghanistan is the good war - I will concentrate on winning there. I will change the tone in Washington. I am a uniter, not a divider. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Unfortunately, when the election is over, you have to actually govern and this is where Obama has been exposed. He has no real world experience outside of politics and his para-political community-organizing gig. He doesn't have even a rudimentary grasp of history or economics. For all of Obama's vaunted intelligence, I have yet to see evidence of it. He hasn't deviated one iota from the far left socialistic/fascistic playbook since coming into office. He doesn't seem to understand that the average American doesn't hold with the liberal philosophy he has been entrenched with all his life. He spouts platitudes about social justice that any sophomore sociology major at his former alma maters, Harvard and Columbia, would instantly recognize and nod his head, but that the average rancher in Kansas or construction worker in Georgia, people with real-world experience, would recognize as insanity. Instead, Obama regularly ridicules his opponents and accuses them of ill will whenever he is opposed. Instead of using his bully pulpit to persuade and inspire, he uses it to lecture, browbeat and declare from on high what is and what is not "acceptable." He wants "conversation and ideas" but, if those ideas don't agree with his viewpoint, he decries them as "partisan politics as usual."

Our President is now in perpetual campaign mode, certain that his charm and erudition can overcome objections to his far-left policies. Unfortunately, while you may be able to get away with promising unicorns that fart rainbows in campaigns, when it comes to governing, people become a little more discerning. That is why, no matter how many times he promises it, people know that you can’t dramatically expand the government health care rolls while simultaneously decreasing the deficit and increasing accessibility to health care providers. People understand that the President is blowing smoke up their skirts and that is why the public support for Obama’s health care reform is tanking, not because of lies and misleading statements from Obama’s opponents. Just try to convince someone that the way to increase efficiency of anything is to have more government involvement and you’ll understand why Obama is having a difficult time selling his program.

All of this might be comical if it wasn’t so serious. Our economy continues stagnate while unemployment rates continue to climb. Indecision on Afghanistan may very well cost us the war or, at the least, more American lives. Iran is on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power and Russia is, once again, flexing her muscles.

A more humble man might regroup, learn some lessons from his failures, and come back as a strong and decisive leader. Of course, humility and Obama do not even belong in the same sentence. If there is anyone who has a high opinion of himself, it is Barack Obama. George Will says, “Presidents often come to be characterized by particular adjectives: "honest" Abe Lincoln, "Grover the Good" Cleveland, "energetic" Theodore Roosevelt, "idealistic" Woodrow Wilson, "Silent Cal" Coolidge, "confident" FDR, "likable" Ike Eisenhower. Less happily, there were "Tricky Dick" Nixon and "Slick Willie" Clinton. Unhappy will be a president whose defining adjective is "vain."

We were promised a President who was post-racial, post-partisan and who would change “politics as usual.” What we got was an ungracious, egotistical, highly partisan, radically left-wing President who is way over his head.