Oct 06 2009

“The Somber Seriousness Of The Presidency Has Yet To Sink

The Pitch-man in Chief, the new POTUS.

Prior to last fall’s election a lot of people warned about how inexperienced and naive candidate Obama was, especially when he kept pretending to wave his magic wand during the campaign, promising to make everything beautiful. His promises were so simple they bordered on fiction. He was going to fix everything, he was The One. And he did not need any executive experience to pull off all this magic, he was – of course – The Community Organizer! (queue the super-hero theme music).

Candidate Obama sounded the simple messages a naive and self absorbed America wanted to hear. After years of fighting the evil in this world, America wanted to go back to their little cocoons, wrapped in modern sensory couches, denying reality. Why couldn’t things be as simple and neat as in the movies? Why does there have to be war? So we fell for easy promises on complex issues.

Of course we could extend health care coverage, lower health care costs and save money – who couldn’t? Of course we could set up make-work programs in the government that would quickly stimulate the country’s economy back into forward gear (forget the fact it takes the federal government almost a year to put in place any program and the specialized government contractors to start the work). Heck, we even believed we could tax ourselves into sunny, cools days. We were so powerful we could control the weather (and even the climate!! – queue the super-hero music again).

It was a vote of exhaustion and wishful hope for better, easier times. What we got was no surprise: Clark Kent without the super powers (does that make him Jimmy Olson???). Except the POTUS does have one trick – stagecraft.

Check out his latest proposals to break the health care jam:

President Obama yesterday rolled out the red carpet — and handed out doctors’ white coats as well, just so nobody missed his hard-sell health-care message.

In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama.

A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama’s pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress.

Sorry, I guess there was no substantive points made on the fiction of how government rationed health care can lower costs, not reduce options for seniors and allow us to keep the current plans we have and like. It seems POTUS believed we could be duped by a bunch of campaign supporters dressed up to play doctors on camera (yes, I know they are doctors, but who cares – it’s all imagery because they are also campaign supporters).

Richard Cohen, on the other hand, wrote a provocative and serious article about our young POTUS and his biggest challenge: Afghanistan. Cohen rightfully notes that the Afghan-Pak situation with the Taliban, al Qaeda and other regional Islamo Fascist groups in the area is winnable. It is winnable if we try to win – but it will cost us:

The stakes in Afghanistan are great. But they are not ours alone. Russia is nearby. So are China and Iran. So why Americans have to shed most of the blood for a Taliban-free Afghanistan is just one of the questions Obama will have to answer. Another is why Americans have to die for a set of possibilities that seem remote to most people.

The war in Afghanistan is eminently more winnable than was Vietnam. The Taliban are far from universally liked or admired. Still, the war will require more than a significant commitment of troops and, of course, money.

I have talked to a few people who work in Afghanistan for the US and NATO. The ‘war’ is won. The requirement now is to provide enough security so that the Afghan people can build their new nation (this is not nation building, but giving the people the space to stand up and build their own). They are being threatened and cowered by Taliban and al Qaeda remnants, who have a shrinking sanctuary in the Tribal Regions of northern Pakistan. The situation requires a final push to get it over the top.

But Cohen notes a real problem in this fairly obvious and straight forward cross roads we face:

But the ultimate in realism is for the president to gauge himself and who he is: Does he have the stomach and commitment for what is likely to be an unpopular war? Will he send additional troops, but hedge by not sending enough — so that the dying will be in vain? What does he believe, and will he ask Americans to die for it? Only he knows the answers to these questions. But based on his zigzagging so far and the suggestion from the Copenhagen trip that the somber seriousness of the presidency has yet to sink in, we have reason to wonder.

It is coming tragically clear that we may have promoted Barack Obama too soon. He has simple minded solutions to complex and dangerous problems. He ignores and shuns those with opposing opinions, many of whom have the experience he needs to make the right decisions.

The trip to Copenhagen, the late night comedy show tour, the beer with the cop and the belligerent citizen – these are all staged events of no substance. But maybe that is all the POTUS can do well?

Update: Another liberal opinion writer comes out questioning the seriousness of the POTUS:

The big question on the domestic front right now is whether President Obama understands the gravity of the employment crisis facing the country. Does he get it? The signals coming out of the White House have not been encouraging.

The Beltway crowd and the Einsteins of high finance who never saw this economic collapse coming are now telling us with their usual breezy arrogance that the Great Recession is probably over. Their focus, of course, is on data, abstractions like the gross domestic product, not the continued suffering of living, breathing human beings struggling with the nightmare of joblessness.

Nearly one in four American families has suffered a job loss over the past year, according to a survey released by the Economic Policy Institute. Nearly 1 in 10 Americans is officially unemployed, and the real-world jobless rate is worse.

We’re running on a treadmill that is carrying us backward. Something approaching 10 million new jobs would have to be created just to get back to where we were when the recession began in December 2007. There is nothing currently in the works to jump-start job creation on that scale.

I agree. Just look at how bad the numbers are once you dive into the details:

28 responses so far

28 Responses to ““The Somber Seriousness Of The Presidency Has Yet To Sink”

  1. KauaiBoy says:

    While the pres and his posse appear to get dumber by the day, it is only further proof of how little anyone knew of him and his backers when he was elected. Unfortunately, asking the question as to what qualified him for one of the most important jobs on earth was viewed as unhip at the time. He would be wise to kick Taliban ass and finish the job the last guy started while beginning to project the appearance of a strong leader. That may help get the crazy mullahs to settle down and dampen the hysteria of those on the left here at home. He still has a chance to do something useful with that legal degree. That’s one of the beauties of term limits though……we can and will overcome the mistake of his election.

  2. Terrye says:

    I think Obama is in way over his head.

    And who cares about diana west?

  3. owl says:

    Rats. WWS just laid out one of the two conflicting battles in my head. A good case but too clean. As if someone wiped out behind him. And just when I had decided he was placed (never believed it was just Soros).

    So many fires and while everyone is trying to beat them out, some things slip through. I hate he loves that UN. Hate he is going to change the Supremes.

    Several of these ‘questioning’ articles the last few days. They are so mild but a start. The most amazing thing I have seen occurred on ABC’s GMA. Still in shock that Chris was actually in Afghanistan and bragging on the troops. Yep. That slimeball show finally found the WAR. Almost puked. After 8 years of talking about dead bodies and the horror that WE were inflicting, these creeps finally found some good soldiers.

    God bless our troops and just maybe, the State Run Media will quit spitting on you.

  4. WWS says:

    Thanks, Owl. I admit to wondering about the other case myself. But a good test is always to see which argument will “write out” and that’s why for now I’ve got to go with the one I’ve made. The other one just doesn’t “write out” yet.

    Speaking of the State Media – Allahpundit today came up with one of the best one liners I’ve seen in a while. He posted the story of the controversial Australian comedy show which featured a skit about a man in a palestinian sperm bank pleasuring himself to a photo of President Obama.

    he remarked: “We already have a version of this show. It’s called “Hardball.””

  5. dhunter says:

    I hope you all are right and Pinnochio is incompetent and it is not as Glenn Beck was alluding to tonight that the actual goal may to be to collapse the whole system and install a new fascist state or at least socialist one. Run up enough debt to collapse the system. The ditching of the dollar for international trade would be the start followed by the refusal of our debtors to extend credit to buy our treasury bills.

    the devaluation of the dollar to the point that it is worthless and then we are all equally bankrupt, poor and dependent on the government.
    He did say he wanted to transform America perhaps he wants to make it into Kenya.
    he did say if the winds blew the wrong way he would side with the muslims

    He has dissed all our allies whilst coddling our enemies.
    I fear Pinnochio is doing just as he planned transforming America by tearing it assunder
    Look for him to bail on Afgahnistan, push the public option followed by amnesty to overwhelm the healthcare system and buy Hispanic votes for 2010, pass cap and trade to increase costs and overwhelm the system putting horrible pressure on business and consumers.
    This debt is unsustainable add a healthcare entitlement and cap and trade and I don’t see how the dollar does not become worthless robbing all of America of her savings and wealth. the government is gobbling up all money leaving little for business to invest expand or create jobs now and Pinnochio plans to make it much worse. i don’t think we have til 2012 if he keeps ramming through spending, seems no-one wants to stop him.

    Maybe I am just paranoid I hope I’m wrong and you all are right and he’s incompetent

  6. ivehadit says:

    Did anyone see this at sweetness-light.com yesterday:

    “Roubini Sees Stock Declines as Soros Warns on Economy

    By Shamim Adam and Francine Lacqua

    Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) — New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini said stock markets may drop and billionaire George Soros warned the “bankrupt” U.S. banking system will hamper its economy, highlighting doubts about the sustainability of the global recovery…

    U.S. consumers are “overdebted” and the country’s banking system has been “basically bankrupt,” Soros said in Istanbul today. “The United States has a long way to go.” …

    Presumably Mr. Soros said this with a smile on his face, since he recently crowed that the current financial crisis is the culmination of a lifetime of work.”

    “…culmination of a lifetime of work”. The rotten root, imho.

  7. owl says:

    And then Thomas Sowell points out the group of dictators that just love our President. Our State Run Media doesn’t have a problem, why should I?

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