Taking a trip back in time to see how perceived ideas about candidate Barack Obama have translated into the reality of President Barack Obama.
Back then many of us were concerned that his lack of experience in any kind of leadership role would lead to missteps large and small on a daily basis and an inability to respond to crises in an effective and timely manner. Thinkin’ we were spot on on these points.
But some pointed to other skills Obama possessed that would serve him well in his role as president:
- Incredible communication skills
- Proven judgment
- Deals with people well
- Understands issues
- Brings people together
I think it is safe to say our president has not demonstrated a proficiency in any of these skills.
- He is as dependent on the teleprompter as we suspected
- He has prioritized a not-so-hidden agenda over critical issues facing the nation and has made wave-of-the-hand decisions with a so-it-is-written mentality on complex issues such as detainment of terrorists at Gitmo
- He has taken an extremely partisan approach to governing while treating those with dissenting views as imbeciles
- He seeks to understand issues that are not important to him on a very cursory level
- His efforts to bring people together have been limited to patching up differences he has contributed to (beer summit) and disingenuous attempts to reach across Party lines to solicit ideas he has no intention of considering for a moment
How’s that compare to what we thought two years ago? Pretty much spot on. Even if we set aside ideological differences that cause us to look longingly to 2012, so far Obama has done little to inspire confidence in his ability to lead. We have had disasters and crises that have been made worse by incompetence in this administration; if we are hit with a a crises on the scale of 9/11…
What if North & South Korea go to war? What if we receive intelligence that Iran is prepared to launch a nuclear strike on Israel? What if the USA loses its triple-A rating and the economy collapses? What if China decides now is a good time to attack Taiwan? What if the unemployment rate spikes after the census workers’ time runs out? What if the current disaster in the Gulf turns into the last straw for a fragile economy?
What actions is this administration taking to prevent these crises, as well as many others lurking out there, and to prepare a response if any occur?
At this point it feels like they are prepared to litigate any and all crises into submission… that’s not leadership, that’s formal finger pointing after the fact.
Let’s hope that a change in congressional leadership in 2010 will provide sufficient legislative leadership to compensate for executive leadership.
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From June 30, 2008, Clark outlines Obama’s qualifications for prez:
Finally! Someone can tell me why I should vote for Obama. According to General Clark on Face the Nation:
“… what Barack Obama brings is incredible communication skills, proven judgment, you look at his meteoric rise in politics and you see a guy who deals with people well, who understands issues, who brings people together, and who has good judgment in moving forward.”
<snip>
“Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements. He’s running on his other strengths. He’s running on strengths of character, on the strength of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment, and those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.”
<snip>
“There’s not a learning period in this job. The next president’s gonna have to step right into the job, he’s gonna have to have the policies there…”
So… instead of experience or concrete solutions, Obama brings:
- Incredible communication skills
- Proven judgment
- Deals with people well
- Understands issues
- Brings people together
Sounds like the qualifications for a Customer Services Rep (CSR).
That aside, assuming we really don’t mind him not having any experience or concrete solutions to problems (beyond taxing the wealthy and increasing the oil supply by taxing big oil (like any tax on oil companies wouldn’t be passed down to you and me, and how does that increase supply?)), assuming these really were the qualifications for president and not a CSR, does Obama have what it takes to be a CSR… err.. president:
- Incredible communication skills
- I’ve said it before and I’ve seen nothing to change my view: Obama can not communicate without the aid of a script
- He visited 57 states? 10,000 people died in one tornado? He sees fallen war heroes in the audience? etc. etc. etc.
- Proven judgment
- Really? The depth of a person’s judgment can be inferred from the company he keeps. Which is why we tell our kids to not hang with drug addicts and delinquents (advice Obama apparently did not heed in his youth… a pattern of poor judgment that continues today)
- Deals with people well
- Was inclined to give him this one… then I remembered how he keeps dragging race into the campaign while accusing others of dragging it into the campaign. Accusing people of racism without any evidence does not indicate an ability to deal well with people in my view – check out this clip from CNN — by the way, CNN’s Cafferty (at 2:04 in the clip) all but accused Republicans of being racists and none of their analysts thought Obama’s statement was out of line
(unfortunately the video was taken down since the original post)
- Understands issues
- Wants to raise capital gains tax out of fairness even if it hurts the economy…
- Thinks invading Pakistan should be an option but thinks removing Saddam, Uday and Qusay was a bad idea
- Thinks Iran is a minor threat, no wait, a major threat, no wait, let’s have tea
- Brings people together
- Can anyone give us an example of Obama bringing people together?
Watch the whole Clark thing here…
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