Someone sent me an article evaluating Barack Obama's first year in office called "A Failed Presidency" and asked me my thoughts.
I think Barack Obama is in over his head. I think in some ways it was inevitable that he's become president--the "stars were all aligned," it was "the perfect storm," that sort of thing. But the truth is, he is ill-equipped for the job. His senate voting record is abysmal, he has no experience legislating, he is beholden to too many special interests, he is not by any stretch of the imagination a "leader" (George W. Bush, love him or hate him, was a leader in the sense that he knew what he had to do and he did it, negative polls notwithstanding).
I was thinking about Bush this morning and comparing him to Obama. What I dislike most about Barack Obama is he's a whiner. His favorite refrain is what he "inherited." George W. Bush also inherited 9/11 from the incompetence and weak foreign policy of his predecessor. But never once did I ever hear him or his supporters blame Clinton. 9/11 happened and the Bush administration went into action, he became a "wartime" president. He made mistakes but he also got things right. Personally I think history will be kinder to Bush than his contemporaries have been.
What I also dislike about Barack Obama is how he always thinks he can "talk" his way out of any problem. It's insulting on so many levels that he thinks the "mistakes" of his first year can be attributed to not doing a better job "explaining to the American people." Like we're little children and we need to be sat down and talked to so we can go along with him. If his past supporters are duped yet again then it's as the old adage says: Fooled me once, shame on you. Fooled me twice, shame on me. Those who voted for Obama in 2008 and who are "proud of their vote...," shame on them if they fall for his distortions, whines, blame-game, promises, lies the second time around.
I think it was shameful the way Obama humiliated the Supreme Court justices at his first State of the Union address. The justices don't have to come to this session but apparently do so as a courtesy to the occasion. They are not permitted to applaud, stand, sit on their hands, etc. Their presence is symbolic as they represent the third branch of our government. So there they sat, like ducks in a pond, surrounded by (democrats) cheering and whooping while the president scolded them for the recent controversial decision to allow corporations to buy political ads in national campaigns. As it turns out, our Harvard Law School grad president distorted the facts. But that's Barack Obama. Cheap shots, low blows, just to score points, knowing he can "talk" or explain things away later and that his distortion will get barely a mention in the mainstream media.
Yes, a failed presidency, I agree. I can only hope and pray that the midterm elections in 2010 balance things out so he can be held accountable.
