Monday, June 14, 2010

Obama...what would he have to do to make YOU happy?

Anatomy of a Failing Presidency

An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt ....November, 2009

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed
presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one
strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of
course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming
traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet
his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant
overture to China .
But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing
everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in
forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy
Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it:
He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.
But, there is something more seriously wrong:
How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free
fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point
advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?
No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.
But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not
one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.
In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us -- financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job.
Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."
Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.
Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.
Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money."
"When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union
"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." -
Unknown ........End of article.

This is REALLY hard on Obama, but the 7 months since the piece was written sure haven't bode better for him than what Geoffrey Hunt predicted.
What do YOU think Obama should do to turn things around where his numbers might go up? (and, by the way, have you noticed how many times he tells us HE IS PRESIDENT? What's with that?)
z

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a powerful indictment of a President, and goes to the core of what we see, but have had trouble finding words to explain it. Obama is an unknown, and will remain so. He doesn't know how to be anything else.

I do believe he has no use for the American people, and that he doesn't comprehend what it is to be an American. He's really not one of us, any of us.

He doesn't connect, if he could he wouldn't need a teleprompter even in a children's classroom. He couldn't even connect with them, he needed that crutch.

I don't know how he can turn things around. He simply determinedly follows an agenda without regard for anything except getting it done.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no there there.

Pris

The Born Again American said...

Thanks for posting this, it put into clear words what our guts have been telling us for almost 18 months...

Always On Watch said...

For me, this says it all about BHO:

Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them.

Z, you asked: What do YOU think Obama should do to turn things around where his numbers might go up?

In my view, it's more a matter of what he shouldn't do so as to improve his ratings. For one, he could stop partying and quit giving speeches which consist in large part of blaming Bush and filled with "me, me, me." BHO has forgotten that he is a public servant -- if he ever even believed that his job is to serve someone other than his leftista masters.

He could also stop bowing to foreign potentates and quit giving his sickening apologize-for-America speeches.

BHO certainly could have handled the BP oil spill in a better manner -- for one thing, speaking with the BP oil execs the first day of the spill.

I do have to say that being President is much more than a matter of good ratings in polls. In fact, polls shouldn't have a thing to do with Presidential policy.

beakerkin said...

Wrong the problem with Obama is he is all narative and sales pitch with a Pepsi Knock off logo

JINGOIST said...

What would he have to do to make ME happy?

1. Go the $#@& away and get lost!
2. Get lost in Indonesia
3. See the above
4. Read AOW's take, she nails it.

FairWitness said...

The first thing Obama should do to turn his Presidency around is FIRE every last one of the radicals in his Cabinet and Administration. He needs to replace these unqualified, dangerous, insane individuals with serious men and women who can actually do the jobs.

Start with Rahm Emanuel, get that thug out of the White House. Then get rid of all those Czars, like Cass Sunstein, et al. Fire Janet Napolitano, she incompetent.

Just get rid of this bunch of losers!

FrogBurger said...

because he has no understanding of the American people

Yup. He's trying to impose things on people who are mostly center-right and highly individualistic. It would be like me being president of France and try to impose total free market there.

I personally think that he is also lazy. Just plain and simple. And that he'd rather do speeches. Because it's a lot a less work. Then he's got more time for golf, basketball and concerts.

Z said...

A friend was lamenting about Obama the other day....the really difficult childhood, the black/white conflict within him which he talks about in his books (so against the 'white blood' in him), the Marxist friends and mentors he had in college, the very blatant lie about not knowing Bill Ayers which showed he didn't want the extent of that relationship known, the J. Wright church for 20 years, the way he can't talk about islamist extremists with any power and authority, etc etc........
it's like we're paying for his troubled upbringing.
Pris, you get it right.

AOW: I don't believe polls should matter, either, BUT, with this president, they are SO IMPORTANT because they might be the only thing reining him in....at least SOMETIMES he pays attention to the polls and sort of wakes up to what the American people want. He didn't get busy on BP until the polls showed America was ticked off at his laxness.

Born Again...true!

Beakerkin, what a mouthful in a few words...thanks for coming by.

Jingo "See the above" cracked me up!

FairWitness, excellent advice, I WISH!

FB...he IS having a great time at the WH, isn't he!!

Ducky's here said...

He's failing because he won't govern the least bit left of center.

Just more in the line of Raygun - Clinton - Bush and the shortening death spiral.

FairWitness said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FairWitness said...

Ducky, you really need to seek professional help. You are completely disconnected from reality. You can't even see that the President governs so far to the left, he only makes lefthand turns.

As for, "Just more in the line of Raygun - Clinton - Bush and the shortening death spiral."

What death spiral would that be? Yours?

Do yourself and all of us a big favor, get on some medication.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
(((Thought Criminal))) said...

I personally don't see how it would be logically or empirically possible for Obama to overcome his innate imbecility without discarding the leftist views he holds that are made possible by his innate imbecility.

Someone online (Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, if I recall correctly) once remarked that a best case scenario for Obama would have him result in being the second coming of Jimmy Carter. Obama has already exceeded that level of failure.

Under Jimmy Carter's trainwreck of foreign policy, some 14 nations around the world succumbed to Communist domination and Iran became an Islamic state sponsor of international and para-national terrorism. You would think that in a post-9/11 world, a Presidency more inept at foreign policy than both Democrats generally are by tradition and Jimmy Carter was in specific wouldn't be possible.

But here we are, under a President who's resume reads "former absentee US Senator, former absentee Illinois state senator, former staple gun loader."

The guy is so much more exponentially amateurish and stupid than even your average run-of-the-mill window licking moron leftist that he can't even write for himself the imbecilic things he reads off of a teleprompter.

The guy would read the ingredients of chewing gum as a speech if someone slipped that text on his teleprompter, and he'd never be aware of the prank until after answering 20 questions off the cuff about the languages natives speak in the nation of Aspartame.

As much faith as I have in the Almighty, I seriously doubt God with a slide rule could design and create a more densely idiotic President.

As far as what Obama could do to make me happy, he could keep on keeping on with what he's doing to increase the near certainly that Democrats will not be elected or re-elected in the next few election cycles, even after 2012 when he's long out of office and making Jimmy Carter's mentally retarded post-Presidential punditry look like genuine rocket surgery.

Debra said...

Does this man have no shame? He can't possibly believe that, can he? Whoever is doing his speech writing is obviously losing it. The entire administration is a joke. Except I'm not laughing.

Anonymous said...

Nothing but a hollow suit community organizer with an unbelieveable ego who is lost without his TOTI. The man has offended or disrepected our international allies & cozied up to & kowtowed to our enemies. He & that wife of his care nothing for this country, its great history, its traditions, or its attempt to bring freedom to the shackled nations of the world. Besides incurring an insurmountable debt that could be our ruin, his weakening of our military, our alliances, & our borders has the possibilty of bringing great disruption to this land. His defeat can't come soon enough.

As amazing as it is, even some whacked-out liberals are beginning to take off their rose colored glasses & see him for what he is. Not enough yet, but some.

Silvrlady

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Z, here's what's going to happen:

I submit things won’t get dicey until 2011, when people actually DO get HIT with the healthcare tax (“value” of healthcare coverage ADDED as valued EARNINGS and then taxed upon that amount). Further, in 2011, more jobs will be lost, commercial properties will TANK like their private home counterparts, and inflation will be rising due to the continued printing of money.

Further: everyone DOES know that the Demorats are NOT going to attempt to move any LARGE bills until AFTER the November elections, right? Because they don’t want anything on the table with which to be further JUDGED in November — things being sufficiently poor for Mr Obaka right now.

So: just wait until AFTER November. If things DON'T go completely upside down for the Demorats and they lose both houses, here’s what you’ll see:

1. CapNTax
2. Amnesty
3. VAT

And that’s just the beginning.

I suspect 2011 will be the tipping point.

And yes, it won’t be pretty.

Lead and brass.

BZ

Brooke said...

I for one, do not think this article is nearly harsh enough.

What could he do to make me happy? I'm with AOW, but so arrogant and sure of his perfection is Obama that I doubt he could do any of those things.

Anonymous said...

Ducky, you're playing so deep in left field, you couldn't field a single if your life depended on it!

Pris

Anonymous said...

Today is FLAG Day and the 235th Birthday of the US Army.

Has anyone remembered or noticed?

Major

Z said...

Major, I just posted on Flag Day and then came here and saw your comment....yes, I remembered :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Ms. Z....I should have known you wouldn't let it pass without acknowledgement. We're all indebted to Your service!

Major

Danny Wright said...

I love things well said. Here is an example:

"his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame."

My sensibilities are assaulted daily by the daily news cycle. I am afraid that before this is all over, I shall go mad.

Ducky's here said...

Pris, it's impossible to play a deep left field in Boston.

Right field at Fenway is a different story.

Z said...

Thanks, Major...it's the commenters who really make a blog; and most of us are so patriotic I couldn't NOT blog for FLAG DAY!

Dan, it is a good line, isn't it.
The news cycle's too fast and too fierce. I long for the days of "News at Six, Film at Eleven". We were a far more peaceful, harmonious bunch when we didn't have people screaming at us, especially when so many of the people are ruining the country.
the media's responsible for not telling America the truth...

cube said...

Quit! I'll take my chances with Biden.

Anonymous said...

" I'll take my chances with Biden.


At least we'll have something to laugh at / about. Ole Joe...steppin an fetchin, scratching his head and suggesting that the wheelchair bound...shall get up and walk!



Major

Z said...

Cube and Major...good point!
At LEAST we'd be laughing at him as he ruined this country, that would be something :-)

Anonymous said...

Ducky I know all about the green monster. Even the Red Sox have to go on the road.

Pris

Ducky's here said...

Have to say that President Empty Suit is quite the dynamic leader.

Just got an e-mail asking for dough to help him fight for tougher environmental standards to prevent further tragedies like the BP spill.

What a maroon. No soup for you, Barrack.

Z said...

Ducky, he's milking the crisis, he just told Politico, in so many words, "This is the 9/11 of environmental tragedies"
Never let a good crisis go to waste.

Anonymous said...

"Just got an e-mail asking for dough to help him fight for tougher environmental standards to prevent further tragedies like the BP spill."

Makes you wonder Ducky, how these "perfect" storms keep showing up to coincide with a political agenda, doesn't it?

Pris

Z said...

Pris; like CLOCKWORK, have you noticed?
But, GOD FORBID we POINT THAT OUT, then we're nutcase Rightwingers....one after the other, never letting a good crisis go to waste, never failing to get their agenda positively reinforced by disasters that need MORE LAWS, MORE RESTRICTIONS, MORE MONEY...more LEFTIWM

Anonymous said...

"like CLOCKWORK, have you noticed?
But, GOD FORBID we POINT THAT OUT, then we're nutcase Rightwingers...."

You know Z, whatever we're called, it doesn't matter to me. If the left wants to, they make it up.

The fact is, about that oil rig explosion, we still have no explanation for it. Only supposition.

What we do know is, the Obama administration chose not to waive the Jones Act, which would have allowed the offers from other countries, namely the Dutch, to come in and help with controlling the damage from the oil.

Bush signed this waiver immediately after Katrina, yet Obama would not, and IMO, allowed it to worsen for political agenda reasons.

Now, he's doing what he always does, using a "crisis" to demonize the oil industry, and to peddle his agenda of contolling yet another industry. Anything to destroy this country. Anything.

Pris

Z said...

Pris "You know Z, whatever we're called, it doesn't matter to me. If the left wants to, they make it up."

it doesn't matter to ME, it matters that Americans who don't QUESTION actually believe the media, THAT is the thing that bothers me...
I just can never make that clear enough, I think......it doesn't BOTHER ME, it hurts me for our cause, that's all.
Yes, he sure does seem to be using this crisis.....odd that the big CAP AND TRADE Charade speech is Tuesday night, huh?
W@#$(&#@$&#@*($&*(@$#(#

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Just got an e-mail asking for dough to help him fight for tougher environmental standards to prevent further tragedies like the BP spill

You can avoid those by unsubscribing to far leftist mailing lists, Ducky.

Brooke said...

But Beamish, if Ducky did that he wouldn't be getting any talking points to cut and paste here.