Empty Cabinet

There is a very distressing undertone that has emerged from revelations surrounding the three scandals that are currently percolating in the Obama administration … the Benghazi scandal, the IRS profiling scandal, and the Associated Press wiretapping scandal.  It seems that, in all three instances, President Obama is a bystander to these events.  He either is seen handing things off to subordinates and then disappearing into the shadows … or he first reads about these scandals in the national media.  Distressing … Does he not have a process in place where these things are brought forward for his management attention?  And then attended to before they hit the national media?

I recently heard a Pontius Pilate analogy used for our President … in that he always has that basin of water handy with which he can wash his hands of any responsibility.  President Truman famously said, “The buck stops here.”  President Obama seems to say, “The buck stops I know not where.”  The upcoming implementation of Obamacare has been described as a train wreck.  Does this not concern our President?  Is he holding cabinet meetings to try to avert this disaster?  Or is he shooting hoops … or playing golf … or holding a fund raiser … or planning his next vacation?  Is he just another empty suit?

I recognize that Obama has been often criticized for his lack of leadership skills (much more so of late).  And it is not that he doesn’t have a plethora of advisers and Czars.  But his handling (or lack thereof) of these recent scandals leads me to concur that he is sorely lacking in critical management skills.  When was the last time he held a cabinet meeting?  Or held a meeting of any type that was not a photo op … or which resulted in anything substantive or beneficial for our country’s governance?  President Andrew Jackson had his Kitchen Cabinet.  President Obama has his Empty Cabinet.

Afterward:  And that Chicago thug and Obama consigliere, David Axelrod, has an explanation for President Obama's management incompetence ... see: National Review Story.

After Afterward: Even Chris Mathews agrees with me ... see: Politico Story

Kitchen Cabinet

Last night, while watching the Republican debate from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, I was impressed with this lineup of Presidential hopefuls. I also felt it was a shame that only one of them could take the fight to The Barry next fall. I realize that this idea cuts across the grain of the current media narrative -- that the Republicans offer a weak slate of candidate hopefuls. But, to me, each of these potentials is better than what we got now … and each has significant strengths that he/she could bring to the next administration. Since only one could be our next President, the next fanciful step then was to imagine how each of them would fit into a Republican administration. I do realize that this would never happen, but I did have this chimera and let me here share it with you:

Mitt Romney – President
Newt Gingrich – Vice President (if I can’t have Marco Rubio)
Jon Huntsman – Secretary of State
Ron Paul – Surgeon General
Rick Perry – Secretary of Defense
Michele Bachmann – Attorney General
Rick Santorum – Secretary of  Treasury (if I can’t have Paul Ryan)
Herman Cain – Secretary of Commerce

I can dream can't I?