Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Obama "Failed to Lead"

Exactly what makes a person a leader is difficult to define. Some people have it, some don’t. But one thing all leaders have is the ability to chart a course and persuade people to follow them on that course. Barack Obama is not a leader. . . and people are starting to notice. People like Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. John Kerry.

In February, Democratic Senator John Kerry publicly worried that Obama’s Afghanistan policy was failing. His reasoning? At the core of his argument is a lack of leadership. Said Kerry:

“What I don’t want is to be party to a policy that continues simply because it is there and in place. . . that is what I’m determined to try to prevent.”
Translation: there has been no leadership here. Obama is just doing what everybody else has done, and he doesn't have the leadership ability to change course.

But at least he's done something, which is itself unusual. Indeed, compare this to Egypt, where Obama had no idea what to say, so he said nothing, before he said something, before he said something else. At the same time, his “team” was busy contradicting him in every direction. Finally, when the outcome was clear, Obama tried to pretend that this was his plan all along.

Interestingly, his non-leadership on Egypt continues. This week, British Prime Minster Cameron is in Egypt, to meet with the new government and offer support. Obama was golfing.

Or look at Libya, where Obama didn’t say a word for over a week. When he did finally speak, he told us he had to be briefed first. While he was busy arranging a meeting with his staff, the British went to the UN and started working on sanctions against Libya. Then the British, Chinese and others evacuated their people, as Obama issued statements on Wisconsin. Now the British and NATO are working on imposing a no fly zone and/or aiding the Libyan rebels. Obama went golfing.

Now we have West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin ripping apart Obama’s budget proposal. He calls Obama’s budget a failure of leadership:
“Why are we doing all this when the most powerful person in these negotiations — our president — has failed to lead this debate or offer a serious proposal for spending and cuts that he would be willing to fight for?”
Oh Joe, you poor deluded hillbilly. Obama doesn’t lead from the front, he never has. When he came to power, he didn't outline a clear agenda like other Presidents, he spoke vaguely of giving health care to everyone, saving the world from global warming, fixing China, producing millions of jobs, and about two dozen other quasi-policy platitudes. And when the Democrats asked, “what do we work on first?” He said, “that’s up to you.” When they plowed into healthcare and the cracks emerged between moderate and liberal Democrats, and they asked him “help us decide who is right,” he said “hey, I’m not going to decide for you.” When they asked him to decide how to pay for ObamaCare and whether a single payer should be used, he got angry and told them to do the right thing. Then he went golfing.

Immigration reform and cap and trade died because he refused to get involved.

Financial reform? “Go ahead Sen. Dodd, I’ll sign whatever you and countrywide send me.”

Stimulus spending? “Sure, send it on over, I’ll sign it. . . whatever it is.”

You don’t want to approve my appointments? “Ok, whatever.”

When BP tried to destroy the Gulf of Mexico, Obama went golfing. He waited weeks before he even said the words "BP." Then he whined that his handlers hadn’t told him yet “whose ass to kick.” Leaders usually know those kinds of details.

He failed to respond to a terrorist attempt to blow up an airplane over Detroit, because he was on vacation. He failed to respond to Haiti until others showed him the way. The Chinese and other BRIC countries blew him off in Copenhagen because they saw him as irrelevant. The pirates in Somalia see him as a joke. He had to send Bill Clinton to save some journalists in North Korea, and he was nowhere to be seen when the North fired artillery shells at the South. He hasn’t even been able to find the American border with Mexico.

When the Republicans took over the House and a budget war started, he sold out the Democrats before the negotiations even began. Heck, even his State of the Union speech was just a list of things prior Presidents have done and a whiny request that everybody try harder. . . at stuff.

Obama is not a leader. He lacks the brain power to have an ideology, i.e. he has no ideas what he wants. He lacks the savvy to persuade people. And he lacks the willpower to stand in a fight.

So poor Joe Manchin better get ready for a lot more disappointment.

42 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

B.O. is NOT a leader. He was elected as a bad reaction to the Bush years because 1) he can read from a telepromptor in a rich baritone godlike voice 2) He makes grandiose big picture promises and then cannot deliver. People tend to forget how little (read none) experience he in actual governance. I used to think Jimmy Carter was total amateur hour and that Carter was way out of his league. B.O. is showing he is in that same class. I think the fact his would be a so called "historic" president vis a vis race helped elect him. Now that is over, and the emporor has no clothes.

Tennessee Jed said...

too many typo's he "had" little experience and his would be a historic "presidency."

T_Rav said...

Andrew, don't forget that after the Libya crisis broke, in his first real speech on the thing, Obama couldn't even bring himself to say Gaddafi's name, of all things.

This makes me think of a couple years ago when Obama was being inaugurated, and Montel Williams had these TV commercials for buying commemorative coins. Both sides of the coin had his picture on them; one side read "Man of Hope" and the other read "Born to Lead." Yeah, leadership. I would really like to know how much those coins are going for right now.

StanH said...

So, what you’re saying, Barry’s not a leader? LOL!

Manchin’s speech was for political consumption for the folks back in West Virginia. He’ll coalesce with democrats 95% of the time.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, I agree entirely. He has no no track record at all of succeeding at anything. And he was elected because made it through a weak field at a time of a major backlash as the guy who looked best in the suit. Few people asked if he actually knew anything.

He didn't. And now we're seeing how well it works out to turn the presidency over to an amateur.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, I'm betting people have already eaten the chocolate out of them! ;-)

Obama has never been anything more than a collection of platitudes put into human form. And that's the ironic part of all of this. The most electable man turned out to be the man that had nothing to offer except that he looked and sounded good on television. I don't know if that's a condemnation of the system or the public or both?

AndrewPrice said...

Stan, That's true. Manchin knows that Obama is about as popular as a rash in West by God Virginia right now, so he wants to be very careful not appear to be on Obama's side until after the election. So much of that was for show. But still, it's interesting that he felt the need to put on that kind of show -- that tells us a lot about how successful Obama has been.

Even more interesting to me though, is Kerry -- who isn't worried about re-election, and all of the editorials suddenly that are blasting Obama quite freely. The Kool-Aid has clearly worn off.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Obama doesn't know who to pick for whatever job he has to get done. You wouldn't pick a janitor to do a doctor's job. You also wouldn't pick a lawyer to do the job of an engineer. It just isn't done.

Who did he send to the Gulf? Lawyers. Not engineers who are experienced in deep water work, or oil people who know drilling. He picked lawyers. What good are lawyers in fixing an oil leak in deep water? Are the dolphins going to sue?

It seems that he only asks two questions for people who work for him.

Question # 1:

Are you now an adherent to Marxism?

Question # 2 :

Are you a lawyer?

Question # 2 First alternate:

Are you a journalist from MSM?

Question # 2 Second alternate:

Are you a politician from my party?

If the potential employee says yes to both those questions, he or she gets the job. Regardless of what the job entails or the experience of the applicant. His non-black inner cabinet gets one more question.

Question # 3:

Do you believe in the black man's plight?

This is what I see as his standards. I don't think it is going to change any time soon. He doesn't see his standards as a problem. Also, I don't think the Democrat leaders see his standards as a real problem. All they see is Obama not leading.

It is simple to me. He doesn't pick the right people for the right job.

T_Rav said...

Andrew, I blame the public. They've always been fickle when it comes to photogenic candidates like Obama.

Incidentally, Joe Manchin just offered clear-cut proof of his duplicity: He criticized Obama for not taking action on our debt, but then said he would not vote for the Republicans' plan to cut spending because it's "partisan." Apparently "partisan" is classified as cutting spending by anything more than $10 billion.

AndrewPrice said...

T_Rav, Yeah, I heard that. And I have no doubt Manchin is ready to become a standard Democrat. He's got the "speak right, vote left" thing going. Still, it's interesting that he thinks he has to speak so far right. I'm thinking this is a very bad sign for Team Obama.

This is also part of their standard "I love budget cuts and tax cuts.... just not any cut you can ever mention" plan. They've been doing this since the late 1980s.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, He definitely does not pick the right people. In terms of picking lawyers, the Democratic Party has become a party of lawyers. It's actually kind of hard to find a Democrat who isn't a lawyer... or a teacher.

But I think the problem goes deeper. I honestly think Obama is a blank slate mentally. I don't think he knows what he wants, I don't think he knows how to get it. I don't think he grasps policy or cares. I don't think he knows how to judge people. I think he just assumes that everything will get done so long as he points and says "do something good with that."

He reminds me of a third world dictator who assumes that every whim will somehow get taken care of by the right people.


BTW, I'm glad to see you're out of the spam filter. I have no idea what happened, but I'm glad the problem seems to be fixed.

CrispyRice said...

When even the Democrats are saying Obama isn't a leader, you know things are bad!

Mwahahahahaaaa!

AndrewPrice said...

Crispy, I share your schadenfreude! It couldn't have happened to a smuggier group! :-)

DUQ said...

Obama and leadership is a contradiction in terms, like democratic ______ (fill in with anything other than "idiot").

AndrewPrice said...

DUQ, Well put. Of course, in your example, it's not easy to follow the word "Democrat" with anything other than "idiot." LOL!

AndrewPrice said...

Ooooh, look what Diane Feinstein just said:

"The president ought to play a much greater role. I think the president doesn't want to be engaged in this kind of fight, and it's not right. He has to step up."

And Harry Reid is trying to defend by basically admitting Obama hasn't been a leader on the budget:

"The president's engaged in this, [but] He's got a few other problems ... with what's going on in the Middle East and many other things."

Translation: Obama can't multitask. Also, what exactly is he doing about the Middle East except avoiding the issue?

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Yes, it is nice to be out of the spam guard. I think it has to do with the browser I was using. I am using Chrome right now. I was using Windows Explorer for it. When a new Window's Explorer becomes available, I probably can use it on Commentarama again.

I think you are right about Obama acting like a third world dictator. I don't think he grasps some of the basics. Congress is independent of the executive branch. The Judiciary is independent of the executive branch. Congress is independent of the Judiciary. The people who aren't working for the government in any capacity are independent of Obama.

I get the distinct feeling he thinks he is in charge of everybody.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, It really does feel like that doesn't it, like he thinks that he just has to say, "gee, it would be nice if..." and everyone else should make it happen. Yeah, good luck with that. In fact, DC is specifically set up to prevent anything from happening -- too many vested interests in keeping the system running exactly like it is today.

But that's what happens when you don't actually test your candidate before promoting them.

BevfromNYC said...

He has never been a leader - Community Organizers are not leaders, they are facilitators and intermediaries. They make the noise, so that the people at the top and the people at the bottom get together. Unfortunately HE"S the one at the top, so he has no one to play intermediary to.

See, and I just thought I was being a bigoted, racist, xenophobic Tea Partier for finding him completely incompetent in every way. About the only thing he's improved is his golf game.

Even Carter wasn't this bad. And if things don't change, the Dems better start vetting potential candidates to run 2012. THey do NOT want a 3rd party to emerge out of this (Though we do...)

Though did you ever think maybe Obama is just THAT subtle that we can't see how truly competent he is? And he's really just working behind the scenes and will surprise the world at his adept leadership? Naaaaaah...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, While I applaud your ability to see good in bad, we really have no evidence that his golf game has improved! ;-)

Seriously, you make some very good points. If he doesn't improve soon, he may well end up breaking the Democratic Party apart. Now that would be fun to watch! Heck, I'll even donate to both groups just to make sure they have a fighting chancee! Or is that a chance to fight? Hmmm. ;-)

What I found so amazing at the time of his election was that people just didn't want to hear that he has no experience that makes him suitable for being president. They were so sure he was the greatest thing ever that they just didn't want to believe he had any flaws at all.

I also think it's interesting that so many Democrats are starting to catch on to this now. And I wonder how much more "truth" is still to come?

Unknown said...

I'm reminded of something the dynamic young John Kennedy said about Richard Nixon during the 1960 election. "Mr. Nixon reminds me of the chief who says 'show me where my people are going so that I may lead them.'" The only thing Obama is leading now is the rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, Obama does seem to be big on leading by following... "tell me where to lead you."

That's pretty sad. Bev said something the other day about this being the first time in her memory that the US lets the rest of the world lead and I agree, and it's embarrassing as an American.

rlaWTX said...

JOel: "The people who aren't working for the government in any capacity are independent of Obama."

Heresy!!!!!!!! LOLOLOL


on another note, a friend of mine was trying to express her deep frustration with something and spluttered, "it's enough to make me want to strangle a puppy!" After laughing hysterically, I realized how apt that statement is when trying to watch and figure out liberals (among other applications). At NRO there is a conversation about the belief in perfectability, and I had that puppy-strangling feeling reading MikeB's obfuscation.

Anyway, I figure that Commentarama folks are odd enough to appreciate the sentiment... TTFN

Management (definitely not BevfromNYC) said...

**Notice from Management**

We would like to clarify that no actual puppies were harmed in rlaWTX's comment.

Management

Joel Farnham said...

Management,

You still haven't explained yourself over your last pronouncement. Your policy was destruction of kittens. You narrowed it to not shooting kittens in the face. Then you reversed yourself and said kittens were not to be shot. Now, you are warning us that puppies weren't hurt?

Can you please explain yourself?

Joel Farnham said...

Hey Management,

Can I shoot nasty thoughts at someone or something?

BTW... It behooves you to give us a list of just what is allowed.

What is allowed probably is a shorter list than what isn't allowed.

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, It's never a good idea for a power-crazed manager (or government) to give lists of what you can or can't do, that reduces your flexibility when it comes time to punishing people you don't like.

So the best we can say is that you better make sure to follow all the rules in a way that does not infringe upon the rights have allowed without good cause.

Clear as mud! Just the way we like it! ;-)

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, I would never strangle a puppy. . . unless it was a liberal puppy. ;-)

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Why don't you get your lawyer to get with my lawyer so that we can lawyer-ease this situation? That way we can be assured of mutual co-understanding of the second part of the first part and party of the third part can disagree as to the degree of the parameters all day long, but wont get any where. Especially in court. ;-)

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I'd call me lawyer, but I don't like the waiver I have to sign before he answers the phone. :-(

Plus, I can't understand the guy!

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

That means you haven't shopped around. First thing tomorrow, hire a private eye. He should be able to find out what you need to know.

The criteria you should direct the PI with is:

First: Find the married lawyer who has the nicest car, but doesn't work that hard to get it. If the work hours exceed twenty, he or she should be crossed off your list. If the domestic partner has a job, cross him or her off the list.

Second: Second, the lawyer has to be known by the law community at large, but not much is known about him.

Third: Now to get him to drop waivers. You must have a PI who thinks around corners. In other words, a slightly unethical gumshoe.

The rest is should be easy. One thing, make sure what you have on the lawyer is greater than what he might find out about you.

The reasoning if he has the nicest car, is the sole wage-earner with a wife yet doesn't have to work that hard that hard to get it but still goes to work as a lawyer, he is either an eccentric wealthy guy or he has an invisible means of support that he has to hide by working as a lawyer.

It is the second type you need.

I hope this helps you find a lawyer who doesn't need a waiver. ;-)

Jeff Chiacchieri said...

I am convinced the only reason there are not more outraged American's regarding the actions of Obama is many have not had the time due to their busy lives to do research and understand the truth, the facts are not exposed by the main stream media. That was me a year ago! Since then I have taken the time, and done the research to become a coherent outspoken citizen. And now for the first time in my life I see myself as an outraged patriot who has hope for our future. Each and every day we delay removing Obama and his minions from office severely damages America's cultural, fiscal, political & judicial systems.
Send this to anyone in doubt: Ending Socialism & Restoring a Constitutional Government http://bit.ly/fWYqtG

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I'm all for blackmailing my way to the top! :-)

Teresa said...

Obama is the puppet waiting for his strings to be pulled. He counts on the MSM or Left Stream Media as I call them to cover up for his inaction and his acting stupidly. In fact, if it wasn't for a huge cover up by the MSM and citizens voting for "change" without understanding what type of change BO was talking about he wouldn't have been elected.

AndrewPrice said...

Jeff, Interesting article.

AndrewPrice said...

Teresa, Very true. The Democrats have a long history of relying on the MSM (I like that - the LSM) to cover up their mistakes. Sadly for Obama, with the internet, the truth now gets out despite the best efforts of the MSM.

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Who is blackmailing? It is called trading favors and influence. The Chicago Way.

The type of lawyer I described to you, needs as many legit clients as he can get. You basically are there to provide cover for him. He will represent you better than the counselor from the lawyer mill in your area. He has a lot of time on his hands.

The reason why you need something on him that is worse than you is because he might try to blackmail you. Plus there is also Attorney-Client Privilege. See how this works?

AndrewPrice said...

Joel, I'm a purist, I don't like to pretend that my blackmailing is anything other than blackmailing.... I like to avoid confusion. :-)

Joel Farnham said...

Andrew,

Yes, but that leads into hurt feelers and misunderstandings.:-|

AndrewPrice said...

That's true Joel, but it is cruel, cruel world. ;-)

Notawonk said...

the man is lame. no leadership quality to be seen. that he wondered whose ass to kick was laughable. he's all image. come on, even sheen has a plan to implement his goal 9who knew a crazy man could best anyone?!). barry, not so much.

he puts the ass in lame-ass.

AndrewPrice said...

Patti, "He puts the ass in lame-ass" -- nice! LOL! Well said!

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