Posted on 09/11/2012 4:38:35 AM PDT by LD Jackson
How important does President Obama believe his job really is? One can't help but wonder how he feels about certain aspects of the job he swore to do. Although many people have written about the President's passion for golf, I have never begrudged him a little rest and relaxation. The job of President is obviously stressful and he is entitled to his personal time. However, looking at the number of times Obama has played golf, since taking the oath of office, the question begs to be asked. Where do his priorities lie?
Clearly, one of the most important parts of being President is to protect our country from outside threats. Terrorism, hostile countries, etc. That being the case, one would expect any President to keep himself updated on the intelligence that his administration gathers from around the world. To wit, consider this tidbit of information. It seems President Obama doesn't think much of his daily intelligence briefings.
(The Daily Caller) In the Washington Post Monday, opinion writer Marc Thiessen pointed to a new report by the conservative Government Accountability Institute that charged that Obama had attended fewer than half of the presidential daily briefs since taking office.Okay, so I'll give President Obama the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge he does read the daily intelligence briefings and sometimes asks for further analysis. His National Security Council spokesman, Tommy Vietor, makes sure we know he does, and that he structures his day differently than his predecessor, President George W. Bush.“The Government Accountability Institute, a new conservative investigative research organization, examined President Obama’s schedule from the day he took office until mid-June 2012, to see how often he attended his presidential daily brief (PDB) — the meeting at which he is briefed on the most critical intelligence threats to the country,” Thiessen, who was a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote.
“During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent. By contrast, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, almost never missed his daily intelligence meeting.”
In an email to TheDC, Vietor said Theissen’s revelations weren’t “exactly breaking news to anyone who has covered this place for the last few years.”With that out of the way, let me state something that is rather obvious. Every person is different in how they manage their day. It doesn't matter if they are President, or some other government job, or if they are in the private sector, to each his own. We all manager our time differently. But can reading an intelligence briefing on paper duplicate asking questions of the analyst who wrote said briefing? I think the answer to that question is an obvious no. Given the ramifications of the threats we are facing, one would think the best way to digest all the reports that come before President Obama would be for him to discuss them in person.“As I told Marc, the President is among the most sophisticated consumers of intelligence on the planet,” Vietor said.
“He receives and reads his PDB every day, and most days when he’s at the White House receives a briefing in person. When necessary he probes the arguments, requests more information or seeks alternate analysis. Sometimes that’s via a written assessment and other times it’s in person.”
“I’d note that these are hardly the only national security meetings he has each week,” Vietor added. “Marc basically wrote a story culled from our public schedule that shows how Marc’s old boss, President Bush, structured his day differently than President Obama. Not exactly breaking news to anyone who has covered this place for the last few years.”
That leads me to another obvious fact. Another issue that our country is facing, arguably the most important issue, is the economy. A good economy begats jobs, so with a poor economy, few jobs are available. How important does President Obama believe his job is? According to many news reports, President Obama hasn't met with his jobs council in over six months. Back in July, Jay Carney said the President had too much on his plate to meet with them. With all the talking President Obama has done about creating jobs, why hasn't he met with his jobs council? I think that is a fair question to ask a President who is asking for a second term, for more time to get it right.
Details, details, details — my little people handle the details for me.
A daily analysis of what is going on each day is only as good as the person writing or giving that analysis.
If we can judge the intelligence and performance of the analyst on the intelligence and performance of other people in Obama’s administration such as Holder,we would probably reach a conclusion that he would be just as well off getting up in the morning and watching a Road Runner cartoon.
Is this job important to me? You bet, I’m focused like a laser on job 1 - RE-ELECTION.
Yes, I think he takes it very seriously. However, I don’t think he sees his job the way most Americans think he does. I am 100% convinced he sees his job as being a world socialist. He is determined to redistribute wealth to the 99%ers. However, in this case that means bringing down the United States of America a notch or two, and redistributing our wealth, our power, more equitably. He does not have America’s best interests at heart.
Does President Obama Believe His Job Is Important?
Not sure but TOTUS is taking it seriously....one speech at a time.
TOTUS = HAL9000
The title is important to him. The job, not so much.
Agreed. If Mitt plays nice guy, he loses.
I am not comfortable hearing a guy who pronounces "corpseman" reads and understands the security briefing. He probably needs it explained to him.
Not comfortable with anything he does.
Add to the list: lack af trade treaty negotiation.
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