Obama – Absentee Landlord

As President Obama settles into his fifth year at the White House, the most noticeable aspect of his presidency is his inability to demonstrate true leadership.  The Messianic fever that surrounded Obama’s victory in 2008 afforded him serious political capital.  Nearly five years later the capital has been spent and the country sits in a quagmire, stuck at the corner of INCOMPETENCE and INEXPERIENCE

We Got What We Paid For
That Barack Obama lacks leadership should come as little surprise.  At the time of his election, he had virtually no executive experience from which to draw upon.  He had always been 1 of many as a legislator.  But now, everything stops at his door and he is not prepared to handle the duty.  Executive governance is a balance between making hard choices and restraining the will to power.   In Obama’s case he does neither well.  He is finding out that it takes more than charm to get things done domestically as well as abroad.  In the end, campaigning is not synonymous with governing.

A Flawed Understanding of Leadership
Obama won the election on his personality and he bases his understanding of leadership in terms of popularity.  Obama has siphoned away reverence for the office of the president at nearly every turn in the road.  During his first term the president spent millions of tax dollars attempting to secure Chicago as an Olympic site.  He could not stop himself from weighing-in on the Trayvon Martin shooting with the unusual declaration that Trayvon would have resembled his own non-existent son.

In the Cambridge Police incident, the president was all-too quick to chastise the police, saying they acted “stupidly”.  As facts of the case surfaced it became more apparent that the police acted within the scope of their authority.  This caused Obama to clarify his statement and hold the “Beer Summit” in an effort to bring all sides together.  Yet, when oil was spilling into the Gulf, Obama was nowhere to be found.  Beer summits, basketball brackets, and rounds of golf make Obama look like the perfect blend of Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison.

Power is NOT Leadership
It may be a natural condition of the human experience that people seek power.  However, George Washington provides useful insight into a man who walked away from power and executed his duties with prudence and reverence for the office.  Obama, conversely, has no problem crafting the office of the president into what he thinks it should be.  The Constitution is a nagging and irritating detail with which he must contend.  The unilateral suspension of legislation, questionable uses of executive privilege, and the use of enormous amounts of government resources to campaign are all examples of a man unwilling to restrain his own will to power.

The Scandals are a Great Place to Start
If Mr. Obama wanted to demonstrate true leadership there is no better place to begin than with the slew of current scandals surrounding his administration.  Yet, Obama is largely absent on these matters.  The admitted targeting of conservatives by the IRS should be an easy one for Obama.  The head of the IRS visited the White House more than a hundred times and nobody can offer an explanation.  The president needs to be vocal and cooperative about the investigation.

Freedom of political expression goes to the very heart of American democracy.  The Benghazi terror attack, which left four Americans dead, is still as unclear as the day it occurred.  Where was the president during the incident?   Why were false talking points given to the public?  Who denied protection to consulate in Benghazi?  In the Justice Department scandal, the United States Attorney General seemingly lied to Congress.  Yet, Eric Holder still remains as the head of the Justice Department.  It is a serious problem that nobody seems to know anything about what is going on in Washington.  This is where executive experience and leadership would serve Obama well.  For those who claim that Obama may not have known, I respond by saying that he should have known.  And, if he was truly unaware of the IRS, Benghazi, and the Justice Department scandals it speaks to just how little Obama is capable of, or has the desire to actually lead this country.