The Alien in the White House

[mikem12]

I think this writer pretty much summed up what most of America is feeling now.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294231631318728.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

[ford-boy]

I think this writer pretty much summed up what most of America is feeling now.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294231631318728.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

 

I didn't know about the Winston Churchill bust. That IS shocking. Bizarre. I fervently hope Obama is a one term president.

[Edstock]

It seems the WSJ is really pissed . . .

[RangerM]

I didn't know about the Winston Churchill bust.

I didn't see WHY the WC bust was sent back. If it was a gift to the WH from the Tony Blair, it seems like a slight to either him or the Brits.

 

Maybe he was pissed about being laughed at for the DVD/I-pod thing last year?

[Roadtrip]

It seems the WSJ is really pissed . . .

 

Only the myopic would find that hysterical.

 

The fact is, while Obama is looking "for someone's ass to kick" (welcome to our pop-culture presidency) over the BP oil spill in the Gulf, much of the rest of the country, including many liberals, are disappointed with Obama's lack of leadership over the ordeal. Obama's hosting a gala honoring Paul McCartney and the Jonas Brothers in the East Wing of the White House during the worst of the crisis doesn't exactly inspire confidence among those who had assumed the president would take a leadership role in managing a crisis of national proportions.

 

And only the myopic would ignore the fact that incompetency was the reason Jimmy Carter was a one-term president, and that, 15 months in, President Barack Obama's tenure has been anything but competent -- much less aligned with the will of the people.

 

It's become abundantly clear that although Obama wanted the job, he isn't up to the task. It's a sad testament to Dr. Lawrence Peter's principal that "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." In this case, the employee in question is the president of the United States.

 

Funny thing is, it's not all that funny.

[suv_guy_19]

It's become abundantly clear that although Obama wanted the job, he isn't up to the task. It's a sad testament to Dr. Lawrence Peter's principal that "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." In this case, the employee in question is the president of the United States.

 

Funny thing is, it's not all that funny.

 

This may surprise you, but I personally agree with you. Every day I'm more convinced that Obama never should have won the Democratic nomination. He's simply not sure where he's going, or how to get there. It seems like he wanted to be president, but he didn't know what to do when he got there.

Edited June 10, 2010 by suv_guy_19

[jpd80]

Only the myopic would find that hysterical.

 

The fact is, while Obama is looking "for someone's ass to kick" (welcome to our pop-culture presidency) over the BP oil spill in the Gulf, much of the rest of the country, including many liberals, are disappointed with Obama's lack of leadership over the ordeal. Obama's hosting a gala honoring Paul McCartney and the Jonas Brothers in the East Wing of the White House during the worst of the crisis doesn't exactly inspire confidence among those who had assumed the president would take a leadership role in managing a crisis of national proportions.

 

Not much Obama could be doing, everything that can be done is being done.

Americans have an unreal expectation of the US president being some kind of superman,

the same thing happened with Bush after Katrina.......

 

What good old boy signed off on oil drilling off the coast of a sensitive wilderness

without adequate emergency containment procedures like Canada mandates?

[BlackHorse]

Not much Obama could be doing, everything that can be done is being done.

 

 

Actually under a Federal Law enacted in 1994 the EPA is responsible for cleaning up major oil spills in the United States. I think this qualifies. Maybe Obama should spend less time looking for an ass to kick and more time organizing his own resources to help BP clean up this mess like he is required to under federal law.

Edited June 10, 2010 by BlackHorse

[jpd80]

Actually under a Federal Law enacted in 1994 the EPA is responsible for cleaning up major oil spills in the United States. I think this qualifies. Maybe Obama should spend less time looking for an ass to kick and more time organizing his own resources to help BP clean up this mess like he is required to under federal law.

From the EPA website:

Cleanups may be done by EPA, other federal agencies, states or municipalities,

or the company or party responsible for the contamination.

 

The EPA does not and is not expected to have the vast amount of clean up resources

needed to clear up this disaster. That is where they instruct BP, the ones responsible

for the leak to do clean up under the EPA's instructions.

 

Re the president:

Processes and actions are already in play, irrespective of the president's involvement.

Unless you want him to bore the problem to death with political double speak....:shades:

Edited June 10, 2010 by jpd80

[Trimdingman]

This may surprise you, but I personally agree with you. Every day I'm more convinced that Obama never should have won the Democratic nomination. He's simply not sure where he's going, or how to get there. It seems like he wanted to be president, but he didn't know what to do when he got there.

 

 

He knows what he is doing all right. Look at his Marxist background and who he surrounded himself with. He pushed too hard, and is taking his "one step back", but his agenda is clear. He will kick ass. That means nationalization. That means another step towards the New World Order. "Never waste a good crisis". People will cheer him on as he leads them into slavery. He knows what he is doing all right.

[RangerM]

Not much Obama could be doing, everything that can be done is being done.

Americans have an unreal expectation of the US president being some kind of superman,

the same thing happened with Bush after Katrina.......

Did Bush ever proclaim himself a superman? Did anyone else promote him as a savior?

 

Obama (and his entire campaign of hope-and-change) is/was all too happy to promote his supporters' unreal expectation that the President solves all problems; "I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car--I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage--You know, if I help him, he's going to help me". Think she believes that now?

 

Interesting article in the Atlantic...

 

Things Obama Probably Wishes He Hadn't Said

You can tell how good I'll be at handling natural disasters by the quality of my campaign:

 

It's not mentioned much now, but in the late summer of 2008, a major hurricane, Gustav, was in the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward New Orleans, threatening a replay of the disastrous Katrina experience. On September 1, 2008, Barack Obama, fresh from his Roman-colonnade speech on the final night of the Democratic convention in Denver, talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper about Gustav and the Gulf. The question: As president, could he handle an emergency like that? Obama pointed to the size of his campaign and its multi-million dollar budget as evidence of his executive abilities. "Our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years," Obama said. That executive ability, he added, "indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect.

"

Let me reiterate that I don't blame Obama for failing to "do something" about the gulf spill. But his rhetoric opened him up for the expectation that nothing serious could go wrong during his presidency, because the main problem with the Bush presidency was the Competence Deficit. I can't feel too bad for a man who was only too happy to exploit the public's tendency to assign responsibility for all major problems to the presidency--as long as he wasn't the president under whom things had gone wrong.

Edited June 10, 2010 by RangerM

[grbeck]

Obama's hosting a gala honoring Paul McCartney and the Jonas Brothers in the East Wing of the White House during the worst of the crisis doesn't exactly inspire confidence among those who had assumed the president would take a leadership role in managing a crisis of national proportions.

 

If I'm late with a project, I'm going to tell my boss that Paul McCartney and the Jonas Brothers were over for the week, and that is why I didn't have time to get to it.

 

Heck, I'll even use that excuse when my wife asks why I haven't mowed the lawn.

 

If it works for the president...

[Edstock]

Actually under a Federal Law enacted in 1994 the EPA is responsible for cleaning up major oil spills in the United States. I think this qualifies.

You're entitled to your opinion.

 

Thing is, the spill is not in the U.S., the spill is way out in international waters, so the EPA may have no authority.

 

The EPA could clean up the shore-line and send BP the bill.

[Edstock]

That means nationalization.

Ah, the essential Trimwit. Nationalization of what? With what?

[Mysterio]

You're entitled to your opinion.

 

Thing is, the spill is not in the U.S., the spill is way out in international waters, so the EPA may have no authority.

 

The EPA could clean up the shore-line and send BP the bill.

 

Not to mention the EPA doesn't even have any equipment capable of stopping the leak, nor was it ever entrusted to stopping deep-water oil leaks. The hard truth is, only BP ever had the ability to stop it, and they've shown they are hardly up to the task.

[Mysterio]

Did Bush ever proclaim himself a superman? Did anyone else promote him as a savior?

 

Until I see a carrier landing or a "Mission Accomplished" banner Obama has a ways to go before reaching the ineptitude and driveling nonsense that was the Bush administration.

[NickF1011]

Until I see a carrier landing or a "Mission Accomplished" banner Obama has a ways to go before reaching the ineptitude and driveling nonsense that was the Bush administration.

 

Eh, the approval ratings aren't much better these days than Bush's. Obama has dipped to 44% in the latest Gallup.

[RangerM]

Until I see a carrier landing or a "Mission Accomplished" banner Obama has a ways to go before reaching the ineptitude and driveling nonsense that was the Bush administration.

I too can give Obama credit for not putting up a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

 

He has to accomplish something first.

[jpd80]

Did Bush ever proclaim himself a superman? Did anyone else promote him as a savior?

No, you're missing the point I'm making.

Perception of the president's power to make immediate remedial changes,

it's how voters perceive the president as having a magic wand that quickly that solves problems:

Why isn't the president down here, why isn't he doing something?

Edited June 10, 2010 by jpd80

[RangerM]

No, you're missing the point I'm making.

Perception of the president's power to make immediate remedial changes,

it's how voters perceive the president as having a magic wand that quickly that solves problems:

Why isn't the president down here, why isn't he doing something?

I think I understood your point.

 

My point is that Obama (and his campaign) were all too happy to perpetuate this misconception when he was running for office, and now that something (admittedly beyond his control) has occurred, he (Obama) is perceived by many as aloof and unengaged.

[Mysterio]

I too can give Obama credit for not putting up a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

 

He has to accomplish something first.

 

I know a lot of conservatives don't accept this, but the health care bill already puts him as one of the most accomplished first 15 months of any presidency.

 

Ranking a president by things he can control, Obama blame is getting excessive.

[Mysterio]

I think I understood your point.

 

My point is that Obama (and his campaign) were all too happy to perpetuate this misconception when he was running for office, and now that something (admittedly beyond his control) has occurred, he (Obama) is perceived by many as aloof and unengaged.

 

But Obama hasn't made that claim. AFAIK Obama has never said he'll solve everything immediately. In fact Obama was quite cautious in most of his speeches, and said the changes he'll make will come in gradually.

[RangerM]

I know a lot of conservatives don't accept this, but the health care bill already puts him as one of the most accomplished first 15 months of any presidency.

 

Ranking a president by things he can control, Obama blame is getting excessive.

Obama had a democrat-controlled Congress (including a filibuster-proof Senate) pass the healthcare bill (with no support from the opposition party AND members of his own party), and since it was passed, the costs have grown to more than reported, the coverage less than promised, the long-term sustainability highly questionable, and many companies trying to determine if they should even keep the coverages for their workers they already have.

 

If that is your criteria for accomplishment, then do you call the Iraq War a greater accomplishment (given that it had bipartisan support)?

But Obama hasn't made that claim. AFAIK Obama has never said he'll solve everything immediately. In fact Obama was quite cautious in most of his speeches, and said the changes he'll make will come in gradually.

I give Axelrod credit for parsing Obama's language very carefully, but when you have....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2pZSvq9bto&NR=1

 

.....you get.....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYjyU25bW3Y

[Mysterio]

Obama had a democrat-controlled Congress (including a filibuster-proof Senate) pass the healthcare bill (with no support from the opposition party AND members of his own party), and since it was passed, the costs have grown to more than reported, the coverage less than promised, the long-term sustainability highly questionable, and many companies trying to determine if they should even keep the coverages for their workers they already have.

 

If that is your criteria for accomplishment, then do you call the Iraq War a greater accomplishment (given that it had bipartisan support)?

 

It's based how other nations view the people that passed universal health care in their respective. They are generally recognized as national heroes in later years. This is true even when the bill was seriously flawed or heavily disputed.

 

War depends on whether the person won it or lost it, and whether it had any positive affect the future outcome of the country. Generally all wars start out with high public approval and become despised if they don't go well. Iraq did not go very well...

 

If by some magic, Iraq turns into a freedom loving Democracy, then I'll totally reassess the Bush administration and their foreign policy achievements, and consider Iraq a success. Sadly though, this as about as likely as the Israelis and Palestinians getting along with each other.

[Mark B. Morrow]

Obama had a democrat-controlled Congress (including a filibuster-proof Senate) pass the healthcare bill (with no support from the opposition party AND members of his own party), and since it was passed, the costs have grown to more than reported, the coverage less than promised, the long-term sustainability highly questionable, and many companies trying to determine if they should even keep the coverages for their workers they already have.

 

If that is your criteria for accomplishment, then do you call the Iraq War a greater accomplishment (given that it had bipartisan support)?

 

I give Axelrod credit for parsing Obama's language very carefully, but when you have....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2pZSvq9bto&NR=1

 

.....you get.....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYjyU25bW3Y

 

Obama never had a filibusterproof Senate majority when the 60 included Lieberman (I) and Bluedogs like Ben Nelson. There were Republicans who might have supported HCR like Snowe and Grassley but they were threatened with electoral abandonment by the party. As it turned out, the Republicans were never interested in any sort of compromise or even cooperation with Obama as evidenced by the numerous holds on nominees by Shelby/Chambliss and others too timid to go public.

 

If anything, Obama wasted too much time trying to pick up bipartisan support.

 

The fact is that there is little the feds could do to stop the oil spill. That was BPs responsibility and they failed miserably.

 

I would rather have a President who remains cool if aloof, than on who makes empty threats like "dead or alive". Bush's incompetence dwarfs any shortcomings of the Obama administration to date.