How "Hope and Change" Became "Dysfunction and Surrender"

It is pretty obvious to anyone who follows current events that the Obama administration’s record on foreign affairs has been pretty abysmal:

• It has allowed North Korea and Iran to get much closer to having ICBM capabilities of delivering nuclear weapons a far distance.
• It has allowed Russia to re-establish itself on the world stage, becoming a force against Europe and a force throughout the Middle East.
• It has allowed ISIS to become the most terrifying and wealthiest terrorist force of all time.
• It has constantly failed to lead when it comes to fighting terrorism, with Obama not attending the world summit that occurred as a result of the Paris terror attacks while attending a baseball game, learning to tango, and playing golf as Brussels with still cleaning up the carnage of the latest European terrorist attack.
• When a Middle East summit was called by the White House, leaders of many Middle Eastern countries declined to attend or sent secondary representatives.
• The administration ticked off many, many allies when it came to light that the administration was using the NSA to spy on other countries and their leaders, with the Brazilian prime minister cancelling a Washington state dinner in protest.
• It has more or less created the reality where "our friends do not trust us and our enemies do not fear us."

The infamous list goes on and on. This administration and the President that heads it has failed time after time to be the leader that the world expects from the President of the United States. Just yesterday, we reviewed how this President failed to have ”good optics” in the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist bombings, looking unconcerned and uncaring, attending a meaningless baseball game, learning to dance the tango, and playing golf as body bags were being used and wounded were being cared for as a result of the Brussels bombings.

And to add insult to injury, today we review a recent analysis from Forbes magazine which put together its annual list of the 50 greatest leaders in the world today, leaders from all walks of life, politics, sports, business, show business, etc. The 2016 list reads as follows:

• Jeff Bezos – CEO, Amazon
• Angela Merkel – Chancellor, Germany
• Aung San Suu Kyi – Leader, National League for Democracy
• Pope Francis – Pontiff, Roman Catholic Church
• Tim Cook – CEO, Apple
• John Legend – Recording artist and activist, The Show Me Campaign
• Christiana Figueres – Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Paul Ryan – Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
• Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh
• Nick Saban – Head football coach, The University of Alabama
• Huateng “Pony” Ma – Chairman and CEO, Tencent
• Sergio Moro – Federal Judge, Brazil
• Bono – Lead singer & Co-Founder, U2 & One
• Stephen Curry & Steve Kerr – Point guard & head coach, Golden State Warriors
• Bryan Stevenson – Founder, Equal Justice Initiative
• Nikki Haley – Governor, South Carolina
• Lin-Manuel Miranda – Composer, lyricist & author, “Hamilton”
• Marvin Ellison – CEO, J.C. Penney
• Reshma Saujani – Founder & CEO, Girls Who Code
• Larry Fink – CEO, BlackRock
• Scott Kelly & Mikhail Kornienko – Crew members, International Space Station
• David Miliband – CEO, International Rescue Committee
• Anna Maria Chávez – CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA
• Carla Hayden – Nominee, Library of Congress
• Maurizio Macri – President, Argentina
• Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors & Opal Tometi – Co-founders, Black Lives Matter
• Chai Jing – Freelance journalist, China
• Moncef Slaoui – Chairman of Vaccines, GlaxoSmithKline
• John Oliver – Host & Executive Producer, “Last Week Tonight”
• Marc Edwards – Professor, Virginia Tech
• Arthur Brooks – President, American Enterprise Institute
• Rosie Batty – Founder, Luke Batty Foundation
• Kristen Griest & Shayne Haver – Rangers, U.S. Army
• Denis Mukwege – Founder, Panzi Hospital
• Christine Legarde – Managing Director, IMF
• Marc Benioff – CEO, Salesforce
• Gina Raimondo – Governor, Rhode Island
• Amina Mohammed – Minister of Environment, Nigeria
• Domenica Lucano – Mayor, Riace, Italy
• Melinda Gates & Susan Desmond-Hellman – Co-chair & CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Arvind Kejriwal – Chief Minister, New Delhi
• Jorge Ramos – Journalist, Univision
• Michael Froman – U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President
• Mina Guli – CEO, Thirst
• Ramón Mendéz – Head of Climate Change Policy, Uruguay
• Bright Simons – President & Founder, Mpedigree
• Justin Trudeau – Prime Minister, Canada
• Clare Rewcastle Brown – Editor & Founder, Sarawak Report
• Tshering Tobgay – Prime Minister, Bhutan

As you see, the list of leaders includes a university football coach but does not include President Obama. It includes a couple of NBA basketball players but does not include President Obama. It includes two governors from two of the smaller states, South Carolina and Rhode Island, but does not include President Obama. It includes a music composer but does not include President Obama.

You get the idea. The head of the most powerful country in the world, the country with the largest economy and largest military, the country that is probably still the single superpower left in the world today, did not make the Forbes list of the top 50 leaders throughout the world in 2016. 

Now, one might question the criteria and analysis that Forbes used to arrive at a list of leaders that omits the President of the United States and that would be a fair question. But consider what Fortune editor Alan Murray explained why he left out the ‘Leader of the Free World’:

“I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 largely because of his call to unite blue states and red states behind a politics of hope. But it hasn’t happened. At home our politics are as divided—and our federal government is as dysfunctional—as they were when he took office.

Abroad, the record is worse. Many wise foreign-policy analysts believe the President’s public waffling on Syria not only fed the terrorism of the Islamic State, but also emboldened thugs around the world— notably Vladimir Putin. The President has dismissed their criticism by saying he is “less concerned about style points.” But when it comes to leadership, style matters...In his book On Becoming a Leader, the late Warren Bennis said the differences between leaders and managers are “the differences between those who master the context and those who surrender to it.” It’s a good distinction. Faced with difficult circumstances, President Obama has surrendered.”

“President Obama has surrendered….the Federal government is as dysfunctional.” Harsh but nevertheless true. Every month in our political class insanity posts we review how dysfunctional the Federal government still is and in fact, is probably more dysfunctional than it was back in 2009 when Obama took office. We listed the foreign affairs blunders up above which Mr. Murray correctly characterizes as surrender on behalf of the President.

The motto of “hope and change” is now been reduced to “dysfunctional and surrender.” So much so, that the leader of the most powerful country in the world might not even make the top 50 of the most influential leaders in the world, regardless of how the selection is made. So sad, just another American political class sham and failure.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Obama Era, Part 7 - Memories From The Worst Presidency Ever?

Late last year I thought it might be a good time to review everything that I remember about the Obama administration. He has been in office for seven years, seven long years that in my opinion have been horrific in so many ways. This was someone who entered office with approval ratings that were above 70% and who represented the so-called “hope and change” that many Americans were seeking.

This theme unexpectedly took four days to cover, that is how many failures, lies, threats, and narcissism examples we could list out from this President. The first post can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-obama-era-part-1-memories-from.html

Seven years later, hope has become very scarce and change has almost always been for the worst. Now, before someone says that I am just a sour grapes Republican, conservative, or neo-con, understand that I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life (I started voting in the 1970s). Up until 2010, I had never voted for Republican for national office in my life. I fully support gay rights and respect a woman’s legal right to an abortion. Thus, none of what you are about to read over the next few days comes from a Republican sour grapes perspective.

But unless you have had completely had your head in the sand or elsewhere, this has been the worst Presidency that I have experienced in my lifetime. From horrid legislation (e.g. Obama Care) to a failed foreign policy (e.g. Syria) to daily lawlessness on the part of this administration (e.g. use of unsecured email accounts by high ranking administration members), the ineptness and ineffectiveness of this administration is mind boggling.

Today, we will discuss more things that I remember from this Presidency, including the latest Pew Research results, in addition to the horror stories and disasters we already talked about, starting with the link listed above:

- I will remember that the American public rate “gun policy” and “climate change” as the 16th and 17th (out of 18 issues) most important issues in their lives while this President seems to focus only on these two issues most of the time, a bad misalignment with what Americans want him to do.

- I will remember that this President worked hard on a trans pacific trade agreement even though Americans rated that the least important (18th) issue in their lives.

- I will remember that Americans rated the “economy” as the most important issue in their lives even though this Presidential administration has been doing a horrible job at developing and implementing effective economic policy, given that 45 million Americans still receiving monthly Federal food assistance, 14 million Americans who are still unemployed or underemployed, national annual economic growth has never come close to attaining the long term annual average, and household income and wages have been completely stagnant during the life of this Presidency.

- I will remember that dealing with immigration has steadily jumped up over time to become the 11th most important issue to Americans, indicating that they are not happy with Obama’s immigration performance.

- I will remember that as Obama has weakened our military and meddled in military decisions that only experienced military veterans should deal with, Americans desire to “strengthen our military” has grown 8%.

- I will remember how the number of Americans view “protecting the environment” as a top issue has dropped 5% during the Obama Presidency despite the President’s obsession with the potential myth of manmade climate change.

- I will remember how this President promised “hope and change” but 51% of Americans now think that his failures will now outweigh his accomplishments with only 39% thinking his accomplishments will outweigh his failures.

- I will remember how independent voters have a massive 16 point difference between those thinking that his failures will outweigh his accomplishments.

Thus, the Pew results show that America also has a lot of bad memories of this Presidency, that I am not an outlier in my memories of how bad the shortcomings have been of this Presidency.

P.S. One last set of memories, based on the fact that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently passed away and the President of the United States did not attend the funeral. The funeral was held Washington DC, not an inconvenience for the President. It was held on a weekend, traditionally not a work day for anyone in Washington. Previous Presidents have attended funerals of Supreme Court justices so there is a precedent. It is not in the heat of an election season.

Thus, I will remember how this President refused to attend the funeral of a very important person in this country but did attend, and speak at, the funeral of others whose importance and contributions to the country was far less important:

• Less than two months before the 2012 Presidential election, Obama took time out of his schedule to attend and speak at the the funeral service of Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, which much like the Scalia funeral, is being held in D.C.
• The President attended and spoke at the funeral of Democrat and former Ku Klux Klan member Senator Robert Byrd.
• The President attended and spoke at the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney who was one of the nine people killed in a mass shooting in South Carolina in 2015 even though he had never met the reverend.
• Just six months after skipping the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and in doing so insulted our British allies, Obama attended and spoke at the funeral of former Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley. 
• Obama traveled to New York for the memorial service of Walter Cronkite, where he spoke, although he had never met Cronkite. 
• Obama traveled to South Africa to attend the funeral of non-American Nelson Mandela.

But this President cannot travel across town to the funeral of a Supreme Court justice. And this is so typical of what I will remember of this Presidency: if any event, including an important funeral of an important American, did not support an Obama political situation or feed his ego, he reverts back to being the community organizer that he has always been, whether in Chicago or in Washington.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Real State Of The Union, What Americans Think, Part 3: Obama Care Stinks, Congress Stinks, Job Creation Stinks, This Presidential Administration Stinks

This is the third and final post we are doing relative to what Americans think about the state and direction of the country. It is next to impossible to ascertain where the country is today and what is really going on since we know now that this Presidential administration has been lying and deceiving us for years, this President was awarded the worst lie of 2013 by the Washington Post, and the mainstream media, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, present only the positive news on their political allies.

Thus, we have decided to go to Gallup, Pew, and other respected public opinion survey authorities to find out what is really going on with ordinary Americans. As we have seen in the first two discussions we have had in the past two days on this topic, Americans are not happy, they are not optimistic, and they are very angry about where the country is, where it is likely going, and those in Washington that got us where we are.

Those pessimism and anger undertones are likely to continue today:

1) A recent poll of a cross section of Americans revealed how unhappy they are with this Presidential administration, one year into its second term. The poll was conducted by the highly regarded magazine, The Economist, in cooperation with YouGov.com. Their findings included the following details:

• 71% of Obama voters said they regret voting for the President in the last presidential election.
• An amazing 55% of self identified Democrats also regret voting for him. 
• 84% of women and 61% of men surveyed regret voting for him.
• The poll also simulated the last Presidential election and found that Romney would have won if the election was run today, with 55 million votes vs. 52 million votes for Obama.

Two points to be made here. Americans are fed up with this administration as the major problems of our times still exist while the many promises and vows of this President have not come close to realization and resolving any of the major issues of our times. Second, as the level of disillusionment grows with this Presidential administration, the quicker it grows into a lame duck status, making it less and less effective going forward, as if that was even possible.

2) Quinnipiac University’s new poll verifies these findings above and how Americans’ opinions relative to Obama are at an all time low:

• A majority of those surveyed characterize Obama as “incompetent,” “a weak leader” and oblivious to individuals’ real problems and needs.
• 39% have a negative view of his handling of the economy.
• 36% have a negative view of his handling of health care.
• 40% have a negative view of his handling of foreign policy.
• 39% have a negative view of his handling of Iran.
• Over three quarters of those surveyed believe the economy is “poor,” while only 28% believe the economy is getting better.

Strong negative views and opinions on how the President is doing his job, a realistic view of our sickly economy, and the lies finally catching up with the President. Yep, sounds about right.

3) According to a recent Marist/McClatchy, when asked how they would grade they would give elected officials in Washington:

• 31% of registered voters (41% of Independent registered voters) rated them an “F”
• 31% (30% of Independents) rated them a “D”
• 27% (23% of Independents) rated them a “C”
• 10% (5% of Independents) said a “B”
• A whopping 1% (the same percentage of Independents) said an “A.”

Thus, only about 11% of America think that the Washington political class is doing a good or better job. Pathetic ratings for a  pathetic performing set of people.

4) The Economist recently surveyed a set of Americans and asked them whether President Obama, Republicans in Congress and Democrats in Congress were doing enough on job creation:

• 68% of adults said the President was not doing enough, 21% said he was and 11% weren’t sure. 
• 76% of adults said Republicans in Congress weren’t doing enough, 13% weren’t sure and 11% said they were. 
• 74% of adults said Democrats in Congress weren’t doing enough, 14% said they were and 12% were unsure.

Thus, failing grades all around for job creation.

5) A whole slew of polling firms and polls track the President’s approval rating:

• A recent survey by RealClearPolitics found that the President’s latest job approval rating was 42.3% while his disapproval rating was 53.0%.
• The Economist poll found a 42% approval rating and 53% disapproval rating.
• The Ipsos/Reuters poll found a 40% of approval rating (26% of Independents) and 54% disapproval rating (66% of Independents). 
• The Marist/McClatchy poll found a 42% approval rating among registered voters (35% of Independent registered voters) and 52% disapproval rating (58% of Independents).
• The Gallup poll found a 41% approval rating and a 51% disapproval rating. tracks President Obama’s job approval on a weekly basis. 
• The interesting trend is at this time last year the numbers were basically reversed according to Gallup: 52% approved and 42% disapproved.
• The Rasmussen poll found a 49% approval rating and a 50% disapproval rating. Similar to Gallup, last year at this time, the President’s approval was 54% and his disapproval 45%.

With an approval rating below 50% across all independent tracking polls and opinion surveys, and trending downwards, and having basically been named political liar of the year by the Washington Post for 2013, the lame duck status continues to be a real possibility in the eyes of the country with almost three years still left in this administration.

6) About the only good news for the President is that his approval ratings are higher than the approval ratings of Congress, a classic “queen of the pigs” situation:

• The recent RealClearPolitics poll found that Congress had an approval rating of 12.3% and a disapproval rating of 81.7%.
• The Economist poll found a 7% disapproval rate and 71% disapproval rate.
• The Gallup poll found a 12% approval rate and an 83% disapproval rate

You have to really try to be viewed so negatively across all of the polls. This is a clear example of how the political class has hijacked our election processes since with these approval ratings, and their dismal actual legislative performance, not a single incumbent Washington politician should ever get reelected if basically nine out of ten Americans think they are doing a lousy job.

7) As to whether of not the country is heading in the right direction:

• The recent RealClearPolitics poll found that 29.6% of those surveyed think the country is headed in the right direction while 63.6% think it is headed in the wrong direction
• The Economist poll found that 30% think the country is headed in the right direction while 59% think it is headed in the wrong direction. 
• The Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 23% of adults (11% of Independents) think the country is headed in the right direction and 62% (78% of Independents) think it is headed in the wrong direction
• The Marist/McClatchy poll found that 33% of registered voters (26% of Independent registered voters) think the country is headed in the right direction and 64% (72% of Independents) think it is headed in the wrong direction.
• The trend is not good when the about two out of three Americans on average think the country is not headed in the right direction. Makes if very difficult to change the mindset and reality of the country starting on such a negative note. 
• Of course, given the low approval ratings of the President and Congress it is not a surprise that the country thinks we are heading in the wrong direction when we think very little of those that should be leading the country in the right direction.

8) Regarding the state of the economy and jobs:

• The Gallup “Economic Confidence Index” recently dipped to -18 for the week ending Feb. 9 — the lowest weekly reading so far in 2014. 
• According to the Economist, 37% think the economy is stuck in neutral, 36% of adults think the economy is getting worse and 22% think it is getting better.
• President Obama approval rating on the economy and jobs is only 41% as measured by The Economist and also 41% as measured by the Marist/McClatchey poll. 

9) And finally, what the latest survey from The Economist find out about Americans view on Obama Care:

• 44% of adults think the law should be repealed; 28% think it should be expanded; 17% are not sure what should be done; and 11% think it is should be kept as is.
• 25% think Obama Care is a complete failure, 22% think it is more of a failure than a success, 19% think it is equal parts a success and a failure, 13% think it is more of a success than a failure, 13% think it is too early to tell and 2% think it is a complete success. Thus, about three out of four Americans have some sort of a negative view with almost 50% having a rather strong view that it is a failure.
• 37% think the Obama Care has hurt the economy a lot, 22% think it has helped the economy somewhat, 17% think it has hurt the economy somewhat, 13% are unsure and 11% think the Affordable Care Act has helped the economy a lot.
• 49% of uninsured adults, the target market for the legislation, are not sure the individual mandate will compel them to buy health insurance, 28% said they are more likely to pay the fine, 15% said they are likely to buy insurance and 9% have already bought insurance because of the mandate.
• 55% of adults think employers will cut jobs or reduce hours because of the employer mandate, 24% are unsure and 21% say employers will not cut jobs or reduce hours.
• 41% of adults approve of the President’s handling of the situation.

Thus, it appears from these poll results that just about everything the current political class is involved in, health care, jobs, leading the country, etc., is being done in a lousy manner by both the President and Congress. There is no leadership, there are no strategic plans, there is decreasing HOPE, and there has been no CHANGE, just the same old, selfish ineffective politics.

We spend trillions of dollars every year via taxes and never see any resolution of any issues, never mind the major issues of our times. We have a set of people in Washington that are out of touch with reality and the issues facing Americans, a set of people who are only concerned with their own self enrichment and perpetual reelection to jobs that the are very poor at executing.

This is what passes for leadership in Washington today and that is why we see the negative results in every poll that is taken. And that is why we need you to join the cause for term limits now at the following site because, really, given our opinions and feelings about Washington incumbents, how much worse could it get if we dumped them all out of office after one term:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w