The Right State

Once again we saw a Barak Obama who looked angry, who was more animated than usual, who…looked more presidential(?) than at any time in his presidency. So what happened to bring about this radical change? One of his top generals, and/or his staff, had the audacity to talk to a left leaning newspaper about the Obama administration in a way which was not positive. Not exactly negative, but not positive either. General Stanley McChrystal did not challenge the authority of Barak Obama in any way. He did not violate the trust between them. He was not publicly insubordinate. He did not challenge the civilian control of the military. So what did he do that was so wrong? General McChrystal did kiss Obama’s a** like virtually everyone else does.

So if McChrystal did not violate any trust, then what happened? We all know Obama has very thin skin; he does not tolerate any non-kissing attitudes. There are those on the left say the General should not be unhappy with Obama’s Afghanistan policy, because the two are one and the same. Totally untrue. You can not hamstring the military and then say you are both on the same page. McChrystal has tried to discuss issues with the President, but so far no one has been listening. A challenge of ideas creates an atmosphere of more ideas. As far as Obama is concerned there is only one idea, his. All others are distractions and are therefore dangerous to the mission, is insubordinate, and challenge the civilian leadership of the military.

The war in Afghanistan must be won. Terrorists are out to kill and destroy us. McChrystal is a warrior’s warrior. He leads from the front. There is no doubt he wants win, no matter what. He has his priorities in the right order. He cares little for the politics in Washington which go with job of Commander in Afghanistan. Wining in Afghanistan both militarily and politically does matter. Barak Obama’s firing of McChrystal destabilized our efforts in the Afghanistan theater of war, while the nomination of General Petraeus’ helps to stabilize the area to some degree. But is it enough?

The issue is not General Stanley McChrystal, it’s the President. Obama’s thin skin and lack of toleration dissention is. His anger when announcing McChrystal’s departure proclaimed this loud and clear. Obama’s wounded ego allowed his to fall into this trap. As a result, this war in one fell swoop has become Barak Obama’s war. He now owns this war, win or lose. And he will either carry the burden or the accolades following the war.

What Obama needs to do is to study the Vietnam War. The US became mired in a war of attrition because of the interference of politicians in Washington, not because of decisions made by the boots on the ground. By canning McChrystal, the President is starting off like Johnson who did not try to win the war, but tried not to lose. In the end, he accomplished neither. Barak Obama is on track to attain the same. Obama need to get over his obsession with himself and realize there are more important things at stake—namely winning the war.

Can anyone really say now that Barak Obama is qualified to be President of the most powerful country on earth?  Can we finally admit the guy is in way over his head?  He was most likely a good community organizer.  In that field Obama always had someone to blame for failures.  He could pretend to be doing something.  He could even pretend to be knowledgeable.  He could stand in the middle of a group of admirers and wax poetic.  The only problem is in the real world, people expect results, not empty rhetoric.

Take the economy for example.  Obama continually takes shots at the previous administration of President Bush to take the heat off of his failure to bring prosperity back to the US.  Mr. President, it has been over a year and a half since you took office, it has been your spending, tax policy, and economic blundering with is continuing these economic woes.  It is time to blame yourself for your inadequacies.’  Barak in fact blaming President Bush for all the nations woes while he continues to mirror the failed actions of President Roosevelt during the Great Depression.  (As historians note, Roosevelt policies made the depression worse and last much longer than it should)

Then there is President Obama’s failure in the understanding his job.  While oil spilled in the Gulf, Obama did not talk about the spill or even go to the affected area for nine days.  When criticism starts, he talks the talk and then goes to Louisiana.  His does not go again until he faces even more criticism for his lack of attention on the Gulf.  Funny, he leveled a lot of blame on George Bush for not spending enough time in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  Hmmm.

After Arizona signs their new immigration law, President Obama dilly-dallied around focusing attention on the law instead of addressing the state’s illegal immigration problem.  He does not even meet with the Governor of Arizona concerning their new illegal immigration law until public opinion forces him to meet with her.  And, of course, nothing substantial comes from the meeting.

Obama does not want to meet with BP chief until public opinion again forces out.  Later on , he plays golf and then has his cronies attack the BP head for attending a Yacht race.  Come on!  Enough is enough.

President Obama has his liberal agenda: Universal medical care, Cap and Trade, helping union coffers and membership; all against the wishes of the American people. He thought he came into the high office with a mandate (a not Bush mandate, maybe).  He thought the job would be easy.  He thought the American people wanted his liberal policies put into action.  But with his out of control spending, his government takeover of the private sector, and his lack of effective control, he will receive a mandate from the American people: not Democrat.  That is the New Mandate.  The people are saying: STOP!  But Obama is not listening.

So far Barak Obama has shown a couple of disturbing trends.  First, the President is reactionary when dealing with critical and timely crises instead of being proactive.  A good leader leads from the front of the pack instead of waiting until public opinion forces his hand.  Second, the President is an out of touch uber-liberal.  As an enlightened liberal, he obviously understands the issues better than the American public and can therefore make better decisions.  As the President he is a caretaker, a parent who takes care of his children.  His high and mighty attitude makes his oblivious to reality.  He is trying to drag the American people with him where they refuse to go.  And lastly, as a good liberal, any predicament is someone else’s fault.  He was misinformed, the American people do not truly understand what is at stake, his issues are THE issues that matter.  Typical know-it-all liberal.  Don’t confuse them with facts, they have their minds made up.

As a result of these three character flaws, Barak Obama is not qualified to be President.  Tim Dunkin aptly invokes the Peter Principle when describing the President’s actions to date.  Obama might have been a very good in community affairs, but he is lousy at being President.  Thus the Barak Obama’s actions so far is like the very definition of the Peter Principle.