Posted on 10/02/2014 2:26:29 AM PDT by servo1969
There is a ghost in the White House, a spirit disconnected from this world, whisking from room to room, past staff, uninterested in their conversations. Unfortunately for us, the ghost is the president of the United States.
Barack Obama loves being president – the perks, the privilege, the pomp and circumstance. It’s the job that bores him. Unlike community organizing, the Illinois State Senate, or even the U.S. Senate, there’s only one president. They can’t just show up when they want or bleed into the background when they’d rather be doing other things.
President Obama loves the campaign trail. He performs a substance-free partisan attack speech written by snarky young staffers better than any recent occupant of the Oval Office. But those speechwriters aren’t serious people. They’re smartasses better suited for Twitter, not the seat of power. As such, when it comes to serious issues of foreign policy, the speeches give us nothing but vacant platitudes when what we need is serious thoughtfulness.
Ask yourself this: Have you heard Barack Obama deliver a serious, substantive foreign policy speech? Not a recap of what is already known, but a practical speech laying out principles, practical goals and the means by which to achieve them? Obama’s “ISIS strategy” speech last month was devoid of anything, even inspiring words, beyond what anyone who’d read a couple of Associated Press stories on the subject could’ve written.
A president knowledgeable and interested in the job and the subject would recognize this and demand others, maybe adults, craft a speech designed to inform and rally the American people to his side. Obama’s failure to do so shows either he doesn’t know or he doesn’t care.
Not knowing or not caring was on full display on Sunday when President Obama sat down with Steve Croft of 60 Minutes. When he was asked how ISIS managed to control so much without his knowing, and was it a surprise to him, Obama gave a very “Obama” answer.
“Well, I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,” he said.
Barack Obama didn’t fail; James Clapper and the intelligence community did.
But James Clapper didn’t call ISIS the “jayvee team” just nine months ago; Barack Obama did. That was the president acknowledging the existence of ISIS and the fact that they’d just captured the major Iraqi city of Fallujah. Between then and September, did President Obama not receive any follow-up briefings on their progress? Did he ask no questions on their advances and barbarism? Was he not informed they held westerners, including Americans, hostage?
We know that’s not true, because after the beheading of journalist James Foley, the White House leaked that Obama had authorized a rescue attempt, after dithering for months.
So what kind of surprise could ISIS have been to the president if in July he’d sent the military into Syria because they were threatening Americans? None, really.
On Monday, Jon Karl of ABC News asked about how Obama could have been surprised by ISIS when so many intelligence officers had made public statements about their growth and spread starting last November. He asked, “So these warnings that came, to the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, to Iraq, he made similar warnings on the news, DHS officials, did the president hear this, did he know? You mentioned Clapper, so we know he listened to Clapper, the head of the DNI. Did he know what these other top officials in his own administration were saying about the threat from ISIL, did he hear what I just read to you?”
Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, responded, “I assume what you read to me was congressional testimony. There are a lot of public statements about this. I'm not going to get into what sort of private conversations the president had with his, with the intelligence community.”
So there were plenty of warnings, plenty of people in the intelligence community funneling information to the White House, and either the president knew and didn’t care, or he didn’t care to know.
The only other alternative is this information was not included in the President’s Daily Brief and James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, willfully withheld this important information from the president of the United States. In which case he should be fired immediately.
That not having happened, it leaves us only with the aforementioned “either/or” situation.
It’s been reported that Barack Obama had all this information and more in his Daily Brief for 18 months, including options for wiping out the leadership of both ISIS and the Khorasan group—all of which were rejected out of hand. That leaves only the “or”—that he doesn’t care. A case bolstered by his attending only 42 percent of his daily security briefings.
The ghost in the Oval Office will occupy that space until January 2017, but his failures as a leader and disinterest in leadership will haunt this country long after he departs.
I’m not sure that the job bores him.
I just think he is too lazy to do the job. Doesn’t have the time or desire to read and learn from others about important issues (doesn’t respect anyone else’s intelligence; they are all below him). He does not have the ability to concentrate, organize and make decisions about important things. Simply does not put in the time. He may care, but it is easy to care. It is hard to do the work to effectuate change.
When all is written, we will find out that he delegated much of his administration to others (intentionally or unintentionally) and that Valerie Jarrett had incredible influence in day to day decisions.
My apologies. After I posted about Obama being lazy, saw article that Chris Matthews said a similar thing yesterday.
Its a bad day when I have the same read on something as Chris Matthews. Please disregard my post. I may have to go into political rehab.
I like your analysis but for one thing. “It is hard to do the work to effectuate change.” That sounds like some campaign slogan. In my view Governing isn’t about change so much as maintaining what has proven to be the high ground decade after decade. I believe change for changes sake has led us to this deplorable stage in our national life.
To label Obama’s performance as “lazy”, “disinterested”, or “aloof” is dangerous, because it obscures or forgives the real problem...
The character flaws are there, but the operative problem is his worldview.
Obama opposes America, he is on the side of our enemies. That’s the problem.
Yes, he is on the side of the enemy. The enemy against the civilized world is Islam. The United States has an Islamist president. Obama is not disinterested...he is simply doing his part for the caliphate.
“Obama either knew and didn’t care, or he didn’t care to know.”
That’s Obama in a nut shell:
On just about any topic - he either knows and doesn’t care, or doesn’t care to know.
Please don’t be so hard on yourself. Like a broken clock that can be right twice a day, Chris Matthews can be right twice in a career. Maybe yesterday was one of his right days.
How about a third explanation,he hates the United States Of America,the Constitution,White People and Winston Churchill in particular,is a secret Muslim,hates the Military and is setting us up for a massive terrorist or attack by Russia ,China Or Iran and will then declare Martial law
He’s not one of us.
bfl
It has been a long time since I have watched even two seconds of the sputtering Chris Matthews but I do recall that way, way back he often made sense. I even recall hearing Rush Limbaugh on the radio talking about newspeople and how few “get it right”. He specifically mentioned Matthews as one who “usually gets it right”. Somewhere along the way Matthews decided to go over to the dark side and he has hardly ever said anything that makes sense after that point. If you have no memory of the old days because you are younger than I am or whatever you may have a hard time believing it but Chris has not always sounded like a blithering idiot.
<><> He appointed a seasoned Chicago operator ---Valerie Jarrett---as his "Senior Deputy Advisor." In Chicagoland criminal palance that means "wire transfer artist."
<><> He appointed his pal---tax dodger Tim Geithner as Treastury Secy.
<><> At the same time, he positioned his COS Rahm Emanuel in the Dept of Treasury.
Read on.
===============================================
THE KINGPINS OF CHICAGO CRIMINAL POLITICS IN OUR WH wasted no time.....they had a stranglehold on the Census (AND US Treasury) from day one.
The minute Obama/Valerie/Rahm/Axelrod/Geithner, and that diseased bunch of criminals, landed in the WH they did two things that were apparently crucial to their evil plans
(a) they took control of the US Census;
(b) Obama placed his COS Rahm Emanuel in control of the US Dept of the Treasury (the IRS).
THE SMOKING GUN---WSJ REPORT--On Jan 20, 2009 Timothy Geithner was appointed Obama's Secy of the Treasury. But within three weeks, the Obama White House tightened its grip on Treasury. Obama put his COS, Rahm Emanuel, in charge of Treasury---Rahm Emanuel's dual role was an unusual move.
When he got to Treasury, WH COS Rahm Emanuel was so involved in the inner workings of the Treasury that the phrase "Rahm wants it" had become an unofficial mantra among subservient govt staffers, prostrate in obeisance, scurrying to accede to Rahm's wishes, according to Treasury government officials. Reported by WSJ / 05/31/09
More here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113406528875137.html
The connection between the IRS targeting and the WH's malevolent parasites at Treasury becomes clearer.
================================================
THIS MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD shortly after quitting his powerful WH job as Obama's COS, Rahm held a presser declaring he "just remembered" he really, Really wanted to be Mayor of Chicago. Then Rahm announced he had magically "raised" $10 million for his campaign in "just a matter of weeks." (waiting for hysterical laughter to die down). Ya gotta wonder how much Wall Street Rahm wired offshore when Obama put him in charge of the entire US Treasury.
MULTI_TASKING LITTLE DEVIL Rahmbo was at Treasury AT THE SAME TIME HE WAS Obama's COS.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.