Obama Hasn't Lived Up to Hype
By Bradley Blakeman
Newsmax.com
President Obama is facing a very tough
re-election thanks to the many missteps, policy
setbacks, and scandals plaguing the White House of
late.
The president in 2008 campaigned with trusted
Chicago political operatives. When he won, he
rewarded them with plumb White House assignments,
and other government jobs. The problem is that the
people who get you to the White House are not
necessarily the folks you need around you to help
govern.
The president is learning the hard way that it is
much easier to campaign than to govern. In the
campaign of 2008, he was against the surge in Iraq,
the Bush tax cuts, Guantanamo. Etc.
As president, Guantanamo remains open, Obama
reauthorized the Bush tax cuts and he has followed
the Bush strategy on Iraq — just to name a few
highlights of his first term.
During the 2008 campaign, then Sen. Obama vowed to
pass immigration reform within his first year in
office. Has anyone heard anything meaningful on
immigration reform since he took office? The answer
is clearly no because, the entire administration has
become bogged down in the manufactured “crisis” on
healthcare, which has morphed into a constitutional
crisis — pitting the judiciary against the
legislative and executive branches.
Let’s not forget the $800 Billion stimulus bill that
was to prevent our national unemployment from rising
above 8 percent. Unemployment has not been below 8
percent since Obama set foot in the White House.
And, if you take into account under employment — and
those who have given up looking for work — the
number is twice that.
The president and his staff believed with all their
hearts, that if we would only apologize to the world
for perceived past transgressions, sworn enemies and
detractors would change their ways, and we would all
live happily ever after. Well, Iran has gotten more
aggressive and is close to Israeli taking out its
unlawful nuclear facilities. Under its latest puppet
dictator, North Korea has engaged in provocative and
dangerous behavior toward the West, and the U.S. in
particular.
I used to think that it was just the president
receiving very bad advice across the board that
hindered him. But clearly he deserves much of the
blame for his failures. He is not acting like a
president and he continues to be stuck in campaign
mode. As a result, he has not been leading or
governing effectively. As a candidate, Sen. Obama
had all the answers. He told us that he had well
thought out policies to fix everything from the
economy to healthcare — not to mention his
well-intentioned attempts at convincing the Iranians
and North Koreans to abandon their nuclear
ambitions.
Obama promised to conduct the most open and
transparent administration our nation has ever seen.
Instead, the facts are that his administration has
turned out to be the most closed and clandestine.
Whether it is the appointment of more than 40 czars
without Senate confirmation, or officials taking the
Fifth with regard to DOJ gun running, GSA waste,
fraud and abuse, or the Energy Department’s approval
of hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to
failed companies and the latest Secret Service frat
party at the Columbia Summit. And who can forget the
stimulus and Obamacare being pushed through without
public notice and without time for legislators to
read the bills they are called upon to vote on?
We now know that the president has no policies,
vision, and only ambition. He has been and continues
to be a leader who rules out of ideology instead of
realty.
President Obama has ceded much of his power to the
legislative branch, or to Czars accountable to no
one but him. He tells Congress to come up with
legislative solutions that he can sign while telling
his czars to implement policy without the need for
oversight or authority. He is a “no-heavy lifting”
executive, who is letting the inmates run the
asylum. A seasoned staff of professionals would
never let the president get himself bogged down like
this. This president is surrounded by the “C” team
of campaign operatives and friends that he should
have shed long ago in favor of a professional staff
that understands the powers and prestige of the
presidency — from a historical, political, legal,
and practical perspective. The president does not
possess the requisite experience or judgment without
help from others competent enough to help.
Alas, it is too late for him to change. This
president is now circling the wagons like Custer for
a last stand in November.
His campaign operatives, who masqueraded for
three-plus years as government officials and
experts, are now going back to what they do best —
managing a campaign.
However their best in 2008 may not be good enough in
2012.
The reality is that there is no more Bush to blame.
Obama and company cannot hide from a record of
failure and incompetence.
This election will not turn on diversion. It will
turn on the economy, debt, and jobs. An added bonus
would be the defeat of Obamacare, and light shone on
the president’s numerous scandals, highlighting the
incompetence of a president that is clearly out of
his league.
A significant majority of Americans believe they are
not better off today than they were in 2009, and the
same citizens are fearful for their future. They
believe America is on the wrong track.
America should be prepared for a 2012 Election
season chock full of diversion, blame and attack.
Despite Obama 2012’s best efforts to confuse,
obscure, pander and divide, we find ourselves with
little hope.
We will seek change.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy
assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04.
He is currently a professor of Politics and Public
Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent
contributor to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports
from Bradley Blakeman —
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