President Obama - Short Reflection on Election Day

I am pleased that the current presidential election cycle is coming to a close. This election has been three years too long creating posturing bring about years of stagnation in which the great American founding principal of compromise been replaced by dogmatic stubborn firmness demanding that the other side capitulate all along the board.

Will Obama be re-elected? While the coming hours will tell, I suspect that history will view the last four years as a period of missed opportunities, for the President as well as Congress to work together for the greater good.

Obama’s presidency has lacked consistent clarity and passion. Yes, there has been been moments of clarity, but for the most part his overall plan and direction has not been evidenced. Some of the lack of clarity has been due to him trying to find ways to work with an obstructionist Congress and the Republican's primary agenda of ensuring Obama is a one term President...not a posture of governing for the good of the nation but a posture of doing whatever is necessary to win at all costs. A good part is that the President's lack of passion makes him appear to be detached. I suspect that he understands the anxieties and feels the pains of the common citizen and their plight, but it does not come across as frequently as it should. He has not been selling his ideas with passion and from the framework of addressing the issues felt on Main Street.

Obama was handled a horrible economic situation created by crass and unchecked greed in so many sectors of the economy. Bush, shares the blame, but so does Congress, the mega banks, those realtors who pushed subprime loans and homes they knew people could not afford, the citizens who knowingly bought homes they could not afford, and local as well as state politicians who rather than encouraging the building of modest housing stock facilitated the building of upscale large homes. 

The crass greed and off-loading of risky derivatives around the world continue to be felt by nations around the world. The impact of the economic collapse that was underway four years ago continues to linger in the United States, Europe and Far East.  Obama is commended for calmly guiding the country through an economic minefield and helped prevent the collapse of our major banks, he has not led with a passion and vision a President should project, particularly in troubled times, in terms that the average family can appreciate.    

What drives Obama? We have not evidenced what drives him, his grand vision or ideas. Health-care expansion was not a driving vision or passion. He was not highly engaged in driving the shape of the reform as expanding health insurance and improving health-care was Hillary Clinton’s issue. Healthcare was Hillary passion, a platform he co-opted to secure the nomination. He never argued strongly in favor for it, guide and drive the shape of the reform. Instead he left it to various parties to shape reform apart from his ongoing involvement which resulted in a healthcare reform that is more flawed than necessary.

He rightly extracted the nation from the ongoing morass of Iraq. He is commended for doing so. Other than giving a deadline to withdrawing from Afghanistan he has not given a clear definition of what needs to be done and how it would be done. The withdraw from both countries will help stop the spiraling deficit. His posture on Libya was reasonable, but Egypt was muddier and Syria still merkier. Presenting a cogent vision for the world or how America will be involved in the world has only been articulated in broad terms.  The current strength of international relations more a result of Hillary Clinton, not the President. 

While Obama is an eloquent man who can move hearts on the campaign trail, but we have rarely evidenced the same in the White House. Too often Obama comes across a pleaser who sticks his finger into the wind. We have not evidenced what angers and disappoints him, what are his burning issues that are at the center of his presidency. The lack of ongoing eloquence and burning passions has left him exposed to the attack that he has no plans.

I fear that regardless who wins next week, a presidency lacking passion, burning conviction and clarity will continue for the next four years. Romney is not any better. The earlier months of his campaign lacked passion and miandered due to Romney's lack of passion. He did not define himself well. Further, various positions Romney has held over the years have been all over the map. The ad claiming Chrysler was moving its plants to China was so blantantly false that Chrysler had to refudiate it again and again, so much so that the ad left people questioning his honesty and character. 

Romney's ever shifting positions on various issues is not evidence of a maturing thought process that we should expect for a maturing person as they weigh out issues in light of new information. Rather, for me, it is evidence of him being a pleaser too, an excellent salesman who changes his message to match the audience to whom he is skillfully pitching the sale. In Massachusetts he campaigned for governor and governed as a moderate, taking positions which are contrary to statements over the last two years. Though he postured himself as a moderate, today he claims he was a radical right-wing conservative governor, thereby recasting his history. To gain the Republican nomination required Romney to make the hard right sales pitch, some of which he is today downplaying or walking back somewhat towards the center during the national campaign to appeal to the center. To do so he is highlighting moderate statements made five to ten years before, statements that conflict with positions taken in the primaries.

 

Given the economy, Romney should be well ahead in the polls and should win with a landside. Alas he is not winning in the polls by a wide margin, partly because a host of positions are out of touch with the center leaning public. If he is the victor, I fear that his presidency too will lack a clear well defined vision and passion. I also fear that under his presidency that the public debt will continue to grow significantly over the next four years.

The only positive is that regardless of who is in the President that according the federal Office of Budget and Management that the economy will continue to get stronger and employment will move below 6% by 2016. Romney’s projections of 12 million more jobs outlined in his plan is what the OBM forcasts to take place of the next four years. Of course, a President Obama or a President Romney and Congress could unravel those projections by doing something drastic or remaining engaged in unproductive gridlock.

The nation needs a President who has passion and a vision that is more than a slogan. Hopefully who ever is the victor will discover the passion.

America's Commitment to Democracy is Tested

With what has been taking place in Egypt we are seeing played out in the White House and in Congress the depth and nature of the United States’ commitment to democracy and the citizenry choice of government. Politicians of both parties and citizens of the United States repeated proclaim that democracy is one of its core values, yet cracks have appeared in the nature and depth of that commitment when an American friendly despot is being openly challenged by his citizens.

Some have criticized President Obama and his administration from giving mixed signals to Egypt in the first day or two the protests started. One can understand some mixed signals while information is being evaluated. In those early hours we heard statements supporting the citizenry to peacefully express their opinions, for the Egyptian leadership to listen to those voices and not respond with violence. As the days passed the public statements by the Obama administration clearly signaled that the Egyptian despotic government had lost credibility.

There were too many political voices who have insist that the United States government should have stood behind Mubarak as Mubarak had been a good friend. Those voices still continue to insist that it was better for the USA to support a tyrannical regime that is friendly to the USA than risk the people establishing, even via a democratic process, a government that is less friendly or even hostile to America. When it is all boiled down to the essence, those voices, regardless of pontifications otherwise, are stating the democracy, an empowered citizenry, and personal freedom are not the dominant principles as they hold them to be.

Recess Appointments

This weekend President Obama made 15 recess appointments which has brought forth complaints from the Republicans.

The recess appointment process allows the President to make an appointment during a congressional recess to a position which required Senate approval. The device allowed for the smooth functioning of government in an era when communication was slow, travel was by horse and buggy, and when Congress could be recessed for many months at a time. The appointments serve until the next round of congressional elections.

Modern presidents have used the device to make appoints of appointees who have been stalled in the Senate, either due to the candidate being a poor choice or due to the opposition party using tactics to block the president’s qualified nominees and thereby hindering the President’s ability to be the executive in chief.

In the modern age there should be little need to make recess appointments. When a president makes recess appointments as a means to by-pass Congress or as a means to install highly questionable candidates the president is abusing the process. All parties, the press and the public should cry out against his actions. On the other hand when such appointments are necessary because a handful of Senators for political reasons are blocking qualified appointees from receiving an up or down vote by the Senate then the nation should speak out against the Senate.

It seems that the current list of appointees fall into the latter category. All have long received majority support in the committees overseeing the appointee’s area, but vote on the nominees by the full Senate are being blocked by a number of Republicans.

Speaking to President Obama’s appointments Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said the GOP would react “very strongly” if Obama bypasses the Senate. POLITICO quotes Kyle saying “It has to be done very sparingly.” This is from the man who defended the 179 recess appointments made by President Bush (that it at a rate of about 22 a year over his 8 years, about 25 if one dismisses the last eight months when such appointments are rare).

Kyle goes on to note that such appointments make it very difficult to have bipartisan cooperation when the President is arrogant with power. Kyl criticizes Obama for not adhering to the rule of the Senate while blocking the Senate from expressing its will by a recorded vote. The will Kyl is speaking about is not the majority will of the Senate but the will of a minority that is using the system to block nominees from coming forward.

Kyl needs to get a life. Would these appointments be necessary if he and his friends had allowed for an up and down vote? In the past Kyl rightly and justly argued for up and down votes on Bush nominees. Yet now that his party does not hold the White House he has demonstrated that he really did not believe in his righteous arguments in the past but that they were empty words used to score points and play a political game. If it was wrong for the Democrats to block Bush nominees so it is equally wrong for the Republicans to do the same. Hypocritically Kyl is now part of the group that keeps such nominees from coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

Paranoia, Conspiracies and Obama

Two the elements of the American character are distrust of government and a bent toward conspiracy theories. These two elements are alive and well in the health care debate. As there were some who did not view Bush as a legitimate President during his first term, there are those who hold Obama is a usurper.

Though the evidence is to the contrary, there are those who still maintain that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore not eligible to be President. Even worse is when a politician like Palin who give tacit support to the claims that officials in Hawaii have falsified records (and the birth announcement in the paper was a recreation).

These same folks hold that Obama is not a Christian but a Muslim. They ignore his statements of faith. They watch and firmly believe videos on youtube that have Obama admitting he is a Muslim. The authors of these videos have vivacious and maliciously edited out words and phrases that would give a contrary meaning to the words. Yet these videos continue to live on, particularly in the church with the “my friend at church” statement testifying to its validity and reliability.

What is interestingly many of these are the same people who attacked Obama for being part of Rev. Wright’s church. They argue that he is a Muslim one moment and then condemn him for being a long time member of a church under the leadership of Rev. Wright without seeing the inconsistency.

This past week the President made a speech to the nation on Afghanistan. Even the timing is viewed, by individuals like Russell Wiseman mayor of Arlington TN, as a nefarious plot to preempt Charlie Brown’s Christmas and keeping people from hearing a character reading the Christmas story (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/dec/04/mayor-fires-at-obama-online/). While I want to laugh at the unwiseman and others with similar views, when there are pastors telling their congregations to pray for the President’s demise, I can laugh. I can only feel disgust at the utter hatred that lies in such hearts and which is masked by religious language.

These are the same individuals who are attacking Obama with the following picture by saying that that on Veterans Day he showed disrespect to the Veterans and Nations by not saluting. At first glance the picture does look poorly upon Obama.

According to Factcheck.org this picture was taken not on Veterans Day (Nov 11) but on Memorial Day. On Veterans Day President Obama was wearing a blue tie and an overcoat, not a red tie without an overcoat. The picture in question was taken seconds after the President entered the platform and “Hail to the Chief” was still being played. In other words, those on the stage, and those in uniform below were not saluting the nation, the flag or veterans, but President Obama, the President of the United States. Yet, the falsehood continues to live on and spread fueled by the paranoia of conspiracy theorists who are anti-Obama and a distrust of Obama and his motives.

Shameless Leadership Vs. Upright Leadership

Last week, after one month in office as the CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain who spent $1.2 million to redecorate his office, resigned. One of the items was a $1,400 trash can.

Like candy Mr. Thain generously passed out $3 to 4 million in “performance” bonuses last month to top executives of his failing company being taken over by Bank of America in January. Merrill Lynch was being taken over by Bank of America as part of a government rescue plan to keep Merrill Lynch from closing. How in the world can Thain justify “performance” bonuses when his company is bankrupted and is in need of rescuing?

In contrast, kudos go to President Obama and his Cabinet for freezing the salaries of the Cabinet and other major officials in his administration. Those impacted by the freeze were not caught by surprise as each came into office knowing the freeze would be taking place. Their actions stands in stark contrast to corporate executives who have been reaping and even legally raping their corporations with their huge salaries, benefits and golden parachutes while their companies financial foundation became increasingly perilous.

While in the grand scheme of the whole budget, the freeze makes no significant monetary difference, Obama and his team have made a grand statement to country. They know that a little here, a little there and all the little something elses add up. They are also telling us that they are there to serve their fellow citizens and the country ahead of their own gain. As they call people and the nation to sacrifice, the nation can be assured that Obama and his administration are leading by example. They have the moral ground upon which to issue the call to sacrifice.

President Obama and Mr. Thain stand in contrast to one another. The one understands type of leadership we need, the other serves an the prime example of the leadership we do not need and which got hundreds of companies and this nation in difficulty. One is working hard to undo the damage of the actions of the other while the other greedily keeps the gravy train going as long as possible. One is the example of moral leadership, the other an example of a bankrupt and shameless leader. One gets it, the other does not.