Playing Possum

Rush Limbaugh has a new corollary to his old “Teflon Barry” theory (wherein Obama appears detached from world and national events so that he is never held accountable by the media for bad outcomes … it is always other persons or events that are to blame.) Now Rush believes that Obama is slyly encouraging the now popular meme that he is inattentive to all his administration’s problems so that he can, sub rosa, still advance his agenda of transforming America … basically a clever political rope-a-dope. (I, myself, could be then accused of playing into this Obama tactic … see my Hand on the Throttle posting.)

If this is truly President Obama’s sinister strategy, then one only needs watch events over the next few months to see how much pissing on the Constitution he tries to carry off. If this is in fact faux presidential inattentiveness, then Limbaugh may once again be on to something. The acid test will be whether our fearless leader continues to stick it to middle America … particularly after the mid-term elections in November.

I don't often disagree with Rush Limbaugh ... but somehow I feel he may be giving Obama more credit by a half than he deserves … his apparent sleep-walking through his many administration problems may well be just a mélange of laziness and inexperience … and not perspicacity … in my humble opinion.

Hand on the Throttle

Many years ago a math teacher of mine had a rather charming expression for students who were attentive … he said that "they had their hands on the throttle and their eyes on the rail.” Now this country has a rather inattentive chief executive who has "his hand on the five iron and his eye on the sand trap.” Yes, I know I am covering Maureen Dowd who also used President Obama’s penchant (obsession) for golf as a metaphor for his failed presidency … see: NY Times Item. But let us face it … the reason the world is in such a mess right now is that our president refuses to focus on his job.

Obama doesn’t really seem to give a rat’s patootie that ISIS has turned what was a reasonably successful Iraq campaign into a maniacal morass … or that Putin is on the march. All our investments of lives and treasure in Iraq have now gone for want. Yes he gives a nice Teleprompter talk about how much he is concerned about this ISIS threat … and has some bombs dropped on a few targets … but then grabs his putter and meets Alonzo Mourning for some more inattentiveness on the links.

I’ve always been rather perplexed at the vitriol directed at Dick Cheney during the Bush 43 years. Yes, he, early-on, had a series of private meetings with CEOs of energy companies about how to formulate a national energy policy … big f-ing deal! How many of such non-transparent sit-downs has our current president had from which we can also draw equally nefarious inferences? At least after 9/11, Dick Cheney help the Bush administration formulate policies and operations that pushed back al Qaeda into the shadows. Now we see that al Qaeda is fearful of ISIS … that new band of radical Islamists led by a former U.S. prisoner who was released in 2009 … see: Fox News Item.

So we have a contrast in management styles … the adored Barack Obama who leads from (his) behind … and the reviled Dick Cheney who got things done. Cheney at the very least had his hand on the throttle and his eye on the rail.

Inattentiveness

President Obama’s management style is inattentiveness … fund raisers, golf, and his March-Madness brackets always have precedence over the business of governing.  This might be less of a flaw if our fearless leader had surrounded himself with competent managers instead of political hacks.  But, as it turns out, this administration failing is both good and bad.

We are seeing much of the malignant results in the Obamacare debacle, our still-suffering economy (despite the recent unemployment rate), and our many foreign policy disasters.  It seems to this observer that, any time a policy issue does make it onto Obama’s radar screen, he guides it into a mountain side.  These management flaws are too often adroitly covered up by his likable folksy nature and political spin that rivals Hurricane Katrina ... dished out by his legions of acolytes (including that common streetwalker, Jay Carney.)

But some beneficial results also occur due to his and his administration’s inattentiveness.  Many pockets of our government, when left to their own devices, still are achieving remarkable results … witness the Republican-led deficit reduction programs, our nation's drive toward energy independence, the development in Area 51 of a super-secret high-altitude drone (see: Foreign Policy Article) and, I do believe, the Bin Laden and Somali pirate killings. There are surely other national successes that have escaped Obama's heavy hand.  Perhaps if he were encouraged to play even more golf ...?