The “It’s the Dealer’s Fault, Not My Fault” Syndrome
True leaders, and good poker players, are focused on solving the problems facing them and the country and not focused on blaming others for putting them in the situation they inherit. In other words, good poker players and good leaders make the best of what cards are dealt to them. Bad poker players and bad leaders focus on griping about the cards they were dealt, constantly blaming the dealer, and not focusing on how to maximize the hand they are holding.
Nobody forced Barack Obama to become President. He chose to run for President. No matter how bad things were in the country when he was sworn in. it was his job to take control and move forward and not look back. Unfortunately, he has spent most of the first three years in office blaming everyone but himself for the shortcomings and failures of his Presidency. As a result of constantly looking back for blame, he has not moved us forward for gain:
66) It was the fault of the Bush administration.
67) It was the fault of the Bush administration.
68) It was the fault of the Bush administration.
69) It was the fault of the Tea Party.
70) It was the fault of the Republicans.
71) It was the fault of Congress.
72) It was the fault of the Japanese tsunami.
73) It was the fault of the Euro crisis.
74) It was the fault of wealthy Americans who do not pay enough in taxes.
75) It was the fault of ATM machines that help cause high unemployment.
76) It was the fault of ordinary Americans who have grown “ a little soft” and who “have lost their ambition” over the years.
77) It was the fault of the Chinese.
Maybe if the President had spent less time blaming and more time accepting responsibility for putting effective plans in place, his administration actually have some actual accomplishments to talk about.
The “Promises, Promises” Syndrome
Senator and Candidate Obama made many bold promises in the past but the fulfillment of the hope he provided has not materialized when he had the opportunity as President to fulfill those promises:
78) Candidate Obama promised to shut down the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo since he found it an embarrassment to the world. As of today, Guantanamo is no where close to being shuttered.
79) In 2005, Senator Obama said Bush’s recess appointments were “the wrong thing to do,” to appoint people who “couldn’t get through a Senate nomination.” He promised that this behavior would not happen if he was President. Seems that this Constitutionally correct viewpoint went out the window when Senator Obama became President Obama.
80) Candidate Obama promised to implement the most transparent Presidential administration in our nation’s history. However, when the President was to receive an award for transparency, it was done in secret with no press present and no official press release, Even worse, his Justice Department is contemplating regulations that would allow the Department to legally deny the existence of government documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) even if the Department’s personnel knew they existed and should be released under the FOIA. Does not seem very transparent.
81) The President promised that the nation’s unemployment rate would go as high as 8% unless his $800 billion economic stimulus program was passed. The ill fated failure of a stimulus program was passed and unemployment did not go to 8%. It went well past the President’s promise and has not been anywhere close to 8% for what seems forever.
The “Being Prince Of The United States Is Better Than Being President” Syndrome
When I look at President Obama’s behavior while in office these past three years, I come away with the constant impression that he is more interesting in the pomp and pageantry of being President than actually doing the work as President. Consider the following style over substance behavior:
82) President Obama could have been one of the most impactful Presidents of all time. He came into office with sky high popularity and approval ratings. His party had a sizable majority in the House Of Representatives. He had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The country was ready to turn away from the Republican party.
He could have implemented any amount of hope and change he wanted. But he blew it when he spent most of his first year establishing the all time record for Presidential international travel, jetting around the world as the country’s economy continued to deflate.
83) As the economy and the unemployment situation worsened, he found the time to film a television commercial for the George Lopez show, he appeared on The View television show, he appeared on Oprah’s show, he jetted off to Europe to lobby for his home town of Chicago to get a Summer Olympics (an effort that failed miserably), etc. He was always, charming, always beaming, always wasting time that could have been far better spent resolving the many issues facing America.
84) For months, the BP oil spill spewed crude oil into the Gulf Of Mexico, having far ranging pollution and economic impacts across numerous states. Small businesses went out of business. Fishermen lost their means of supporting their families. Ecological damage grew as this administration fumbled for a solution. During this time of turmoil and distress, this President found the time to take two vacations, make three cross country trips for campaign events, and played numerous rounds of golf. All Princely activities but certainly not Presidential behavior in the face of the Gulf calamity and the resultant suffering of Americans impacted by the spill.
85) Although similar to previous Presidents, President Obama seemed to take the “athletic team photo op” function/responsibility to unheard of new heights. Not only did he seem to entertain every major professional sports team at the White House, he seemed to always be having his photo taken some sort of team or another at the White House, including the Texas Christian University rifle team. No disrespect to the TCU rifle team, but I am sure that there are many other, better Presidential work items that President Obama could have spent his time on then a rifle team and every other imaginable athletic team that visited the White House.
The “Class Warfare Is Good Politics” Syndrome
86) Rather than unite America and heal the wounds, this President has poured gas on the fire from a class warfare perspective, especially his continued, vile attacks on the wealthy in this country. The wealthy in this country pay far more in taxes on both a gross dollar value and a percentage of income level, facts that Obama purposely hides and obfuscates for political gain.
87) By using Warren Buffet as a prop for showing how the wealthy pay less as a percentage of their income than middle class earners, the President deceptively implies that this is how it is for all wealthy Americans, The truth of the matter is that Mr. Buffet is the exception, not the rule, just check out the official IRS tax return website.
People in this country that earn over a million dollars a year, and there are not that many of them, pay a far higher percentage of their income to the Federal government than those that make less than a million dollars. Deception of this sort is not a way a President for all Americans should behave.
88) The President is again deceptive in his rich vs. poor class warfare antics when he continues to hide the reality of the wealth numbers in this country. Even if you took ALL of the income that American millionaires make in a typical year, you could not cover half of the budget deficits in a year that the Obama administration typically runs up. Even if you confiscated ALL of the wealth, not income, of the wealthiest Americans, you could not cover the budget deficits that this administration has wrung up in three short years. This is the reality of the situation, A President who deliberately alienates segments of Americans by using props and concealing the true situation.
In three short years, President Obama somehow managed to accumulate 88 reasons why he should not be reelected. Impressive. Much like the 88 keys on a piano. Like a piano, each of these reasons are distinctive and noisy. Unlike a piano, they cannot be arranged and played in any form that is pleasant enough to make it worthwhile to give this administration four more years.
So let’s review. We have a President who sits silent and allows ordinary Americans with intelligent, informed contrary opinions to be slandered and demeaned by his political allies.
He uses deception as he tries to incite different segments of America against each other for his political gain.
Every one of his economic polices have been failures.
He tramples on the principles laid out in the Constitution, ignoring the rule of law as he sees as convenient.
His foreign policy activities have mostly been failures, failures that are dwarfed by the impending disaster known as Obama Care.
He has not resolved, or even come close to presenting coherent plans, the major issues (“The Big Things”) of our times and the faulty operational aspects of the Federal government (“The Small Things“), continue to be redundant, wasteful, inefficient, and ineffective.
But the biggest reason why he should not be given another term is his lack of personal responsibility. It is never his fault. Someone else always ruins his plans. This lack of humility means a person never looks inward to see how he or she could improve. And without the ability to self evaluate and improve, the country will not improve. We need someone who deals with reality, not someone who blames reality.
There it is, 88 reasons why this Presidency needs to end as soon ass possible. Please let me know if I left any reasons out and please let me know if there are any good reasons why he should be reelected. Mature, adult debate on both sides of this issue is welcomed and critical if we are fix what ails this country, repair our democracy, and return civility to our political discussion.
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