Free Republic

My radio pal Hugh Hewitt said to me on the air the other day that Barack Obama "doesn't know how to be president." It was a low but effective crack, and I didn't pay it much heed. But, after musing on it over the last week or so, it seems to me frighteningly literally true. I don't just mean social lapses like his latest cringe-making bow, this time to Their Imperial Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan — though that in itself is deeply weird: After the world superbower's previous nose-to-toe prostration before the Saudi King, one assumed there'd...

If there's one thing the recent health care vote proves, it's that Nancy Pelosi is the most focused House speaker since Tip O'Neill. I'm not talking about the merits of the bill that emerged from the House - the debate on that subject is far from over. I'm talking about Pelosi's behind-the-scenes leadership to get the job done in such a way that at-risk Democrats can still win re-election. The pundits portrayed the 220-215 tally and 39 Democratic no votes as signs of Pelosi's weakness. What they missed was that Pelosi got her majority while letting Democrats from conservative districts...

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ― Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, visited wounded soldiers and their families near the site of the worst mass shooting on an Army post in the United States. The Bushes made their private visit to Fort Hood's Darnall Army Medical Center on Friday night. Bush spokesman David Sherzer said in an e-mail that the couple thanked Fort Hood's military leaders and hospital staff for the "amazing care they are providing."

The Motor City wants change. At least that was the message sent from the polls on Tuesday night’s general municipal election. While some of the election results had been easily predicted, there were some minor surprises. City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. was expected to come out second if not on top of the city council race. Instead, voters demoted him, placing the former interim mayor fourth behind three fresh faces to the council. But as the polls predicted, Charles Pugh got the most votes, making him the new city council president. Gary Brown, who had been expected to be...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2009 – Soldiers here are getting a trial run at the nerve-wracking experience of going before promotion boards. A mock promotion board at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, helps soldiers gain valuable experience, Oct. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Chris Dunphy  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Soldiers that take the initiative are exactly what we’re looking for in our future leaders,” said Army 1st Sgt. Gary. R. Dillard, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 17th Fires Brigade. “In cases where the candidates are very evenly matched, it normally comes down to...

President Obama fired the imagination of the country during his campaign, but the glow has faded It is fashionable these days to decry the quality of American leaders, and why not?Not long ago, we celebrated our CEOs as the new masters of the universe; some paid themselves as if they thought so, too, and their faces graced the covers of magazines everywhere. But last year, that universe imploded, and taxpayers were forced to come to the rescue. As Bill George of the Harvard Business School argues, we have come to realize that the economic crisis was less a matter of...

The Commander in Chief continues his never ending campaign for Adored Leader of the Free World while General McChrystal waits (week 8 and counting) for the President to decide on a strategy in Afghanistan. Those of you who assumed the question of strategy was settled when Obama appointed McChrystal in March after an exhaustive review of the Afghan situation are understandably confused. So confident was Obama in McChrystal, he hand-picked him to replace the previous commander. Selecting the general was a good decision. He is a tried and decorated soldier. So what are we waiting for? The President has been...

The world thinks better of the United States, we are told, because Barack Obama is in the White House. Maybe the world is wrong. It’s fanciful, of course, to speak of what “the world” thinks about anything. It’s safe to say that among Norwegian prize-givers and Canadian avant-garde filmmakers, Obama is extremely popular. And certainly among bien pensant Americans, the advent of Obama is viewed as the moral pinnacle of American history. It has always been a particular vanity of the Left to believe itself morally superior to others. But the claims for this presidency have been beyond extravagant. Global...

Here we go again. We've seen this scenario many times before: 1. Politicians propose legislation sure to cost the productive classes billions more of their money; 2. Seeing little benefit from the proposal, citizens show their anger in opposition to it; 3. With help from the legacy media, controversy and confusion ensue among the public; 4. Politicians create focus groups and polls to identify opportunities for "clarification" of the plan; 5. Highlighting obscure details as solutions to real problems and vilifying those who oppose them, supporters spin their message through every available media outlet; 6. The public grows weary of...

I am a regular talk radio listener and of late, there has been much discussion concerning who is going to rise up and assume a leadership position or positions and give real teeth to the tea party movement. Jerry Doyle has been asking this question and Glen Beck is looking for his 56 “founders” who will root out the corruption in Washington and begin anew according to the principles of the founders of our great nation. As I have listened to the debate it has occurred to me that most people are looking for the solution in the cause of...

Jeffrey Lord has an interesting article today in The American Spectator. I have to admit that the title of Lord's article, "Is Sarah Palin the Next Ted Kennedy", gave me considerable pause. What could the two possibly have in common? Despite my misgivings, I felt compelled to read Lord's article. In his piece, Lord spends at least as much time comparing Governor Palin to Winston Churchill as he does comparing her to Ted Kennedy. I find the Churchill comparison much more appropriate. Mr. Lord begins his piece with an account of one of Winston Churchill’s famous quotes: The British statesman...

President Obama's "leadership" style is more like plausible deniable. He doesn't like to get involved with crafting the parameters of legislation, that way he believes that congress, rather than the White House, will be able to take the blame. That's why he let Nancy Pelosi write the Pokulus and Cap and trade bills, it is also what he did with Eric Holder with the CIA investigation. Make no mistake, they are following his broad direction but no particulars. Before you go off and say that's how things work, this is how Bob Dole described working with Ronald Reagan on his...

Former EBay CEO Meg Whitman -- who's been under fire for skipping political debates and reporters' questions -- won't be attending a September Silicon Valley Leadership Group forum billed as the first major gathering of California's 2010 gubernatorial candidates. The SVLG event, titled "Leadership California: Solutions from the Innovation Economy,"' will include the two Democratic candidates, former two term governor and current State Attorney General Jerry Brown, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. And there will be just two Republicans -- State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former Rep. Tom Campbell at Projections 2010, which will be held Sept. 16...

As more Americans learn that “hope and change” really means more government and less liberty, support for President Obama is falling dramatically. That should be no surprise. Despite the 2008 election, liberalism is a minority view in the United States. The non-partisan Battleground Poll taken more than a dozen times since 2002, shows that conservatives consistently outnumber liberals by more than 20 percentage points, most recently 60% to 36%. And Gallup just found that conservatives outnumber liberals in all fifty states (yes, even in Taxachusettes)! This means that Obama and the liberal wing of the Democrat party are trying to...

President Barack Obama has rightly been regarded as the liberal equivalent of Ronald Reagan, if not the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt. Like Reagan, the current president combines an attractive and compelling personality with superb communication skills to blunt the hard edges of his ideology and appeal to the broad spectrum of non-ideological voters who decide most elections (and who decided the 2008 election). Reagan also proved that it is possible, within limits, to govern successfully as an ideological president. Obama himself acknowledged this during the campaign, commenting that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America ... He put us...

In the sixth month of his presidency, Obama has turned an economic downturn into an economic disaster, taking over and trashing entire companies, and driving the nation deep into deficit spending expected to pass 10 trillion dollars. Abroad, Obama seems to have no other mode except to continue on with his endless campaign, confusing speechmaking with diplomacy. It is natural enough that Obama, who built his entire campaign on high profile public speeches reported on by an adoring press, understands how to do nothing else but that. [Snip] While the press is still chewing over Obama’s Cairo speech, this...

In the early days of Barack Obama's presidency, his approval rating soared to dizzying heights as many Americans thought we had entered a new era of hope, change, unity, bipartisanship and uplifting speeches. Then, Obama moved on to actual governance and suddenly, for the first time in his political career, he had to primarily rely on his unproven leadership skills instead of his soaring oratory. That hasn't worked out so well for him because he has engaged in seven deadly political sins: Partisanship: After 16 years of ugly political battles during the Clinton and Bush presidencies, Americans were ready for...

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina got a boost today from GOP national leadership regarding her possible 2010 bid against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer -- a move Fiorina appears ever closer to making. It came this morning when Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, met with reporters for a briefing at the Ronald Reagan Republican Center in D.C., where he appeared eager to pump up the Fiorina candidacy, speaking of it as virtual given. "(Carly) Fiorina...even before she announces her candidacy she is within four points in a Rasmussen poll against Barbara Boxer,'' he...

7/27/2009 - COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- Iraqi air force 2nd Lt. Omar AlNuaimi became the first Iraqi to complete the Air Force Aviation Leadership Program upon his graduation from aviation training July 24 here after three years of training. The Iraqi airman earned his pilots wings with his fellow student pilots of Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 09-12. "It feels great (to graduate)," Lieutenant AlNuaimi said. "Since the Iraqi air force was founded and until this moment, we haven't had students who have graduated from the U.S. It's been great and wonderful to be trained and get...

7/20/2009 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- England's Air Training Corps sent numerous cadets to Ramstein Air Base in July in hopes to guide their cadets "to foster the spirit of adventure and develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship." As one of the goals for cadets according to the Air Cadet Organization's Web site, cultivating this spirit involves summer camps held throughout England, but sometimes cadets have the chance to travel to other countries. British cadets learned how the U.S. Air Force operates with a tour of a C-130 Hercules as well as participated in hands-on activities pertaining...

A new mathematical model reveals the tactics that a small number of interlopers can use to seize power. How is it possible for a small number of newcomers to displace a well-established group of leaders? That's not just a question for military organizations wanting to overthrow governments; it's a question for political parties controlling national debates, new products displacing well-established market leaders, and flocking birds following leaders to new food sources. Social scientists have studied the nature of effective leadership for centuries with limited success. Physicists, on the other hand, are new to the party, which gives them a chance...

AR RUSTAMIYAH — The Iraqi Military Academy here graduated 281 Iraqi Army and 86 Iraqi Air Force cadets from its Basic Officers Commissioning Course, July 14. The 12-month commissioning course paid special attention to leadership and ethics training while instilling the values and standards required of the future leaders of the Iraqi military. Additionally, the course syllabus covered tactics, weapons training, physical fitness, first aid, current affairs and geography. The ceremony was attended by numerous Iraqi military dignitaries, including the Minister of Defense, Mohammed Abdul Kader Al Obeidi, the Iraqi Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Abu Bakr Zebari, the Chief...

Seems to me the GOP or more specifically a good solid leader within the GOP should beforming a shadow party. This person should hound Obama, making him prove and substantiate EVERY Word that comes out of his or his goon squad mouth. Then a very serious concerns could be then be outlined and a 'better' solution provided. Come to the people and tell them why '0' is wrong and provide sustainable alternatives, and let the people decide. I would love this to be Sarah, but honestly, I would not mind if it were John McCain. I know he has tenacicty,...

Comparing the early presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama shows many distinct differences, but attitude may be the most significant. Each man campaigned during a nasty economic period, with Reagan campaigning against Carter's miserable term-long recession, and Obama campaigning against Bush's bad year. Both attacked their opponents mercilessly. Reagan talked about specific economic changes that needed to be made, including lower taxes, ending inflationary government policies, stimulating business to get people back to work and limiting the growth (or ending the existence) of government programs. Obama talked about change in respect to outcomes. He couldn't really talk about how...

Recently, U.S. military personnel were required to burn confiscated Dari and Pashto Bibles. If you were in their situation, would you burn the Bible? A Daily PollOne more day for the weekly poll "Is America Good?" A Weekly Poll

Sixty-five years ago, Gen. Eisenhower prepared himself for D-Day with hope and trepidation. Having made the decision to go earlier on the day of June 5, he spent time during the afternoon with the paratroopers who would be the first to leave for France. Although he said that he found it hard to look men in the eye on the eve of battle, knowing that many of them would soon be dead, he forced himself to the task - - it was his responsibility; ultimately, all of what would happen the next day, for better or for worse, was his...

Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD." For Saul said to himself, "I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!" But David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?" So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah. When the attendants told...

Dick Cheney is giving the Republican Party a demonstration of how to fight a popular president. Stake out defensible high ground, do not surrender an inch, then go onto the attack. The ground on which Cheney has chosen to stand is the most defensible the Republicans have: homeland security. In seven-and-a-half years after 9-11, not one terrorist attack struck our country. And, unlike Obama's position, Cheney's is 100 percent reality based. He was there. He lived through this. He made the decisions to use the harsher techniques on the worst of the enemy who could yield the greatest intelligence to...

HBO’s Into the Storm, dramatizing Winston Churchill’s leadership during World War II, deserves close study from our statesmen, their spouses, and anyone with questions about the stakes and requirements of warfare. This Churchill, portrayed brilliantly by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, is an unapologetic conservative, a tenacious dynamo whose rhetoric and resolve protected Britain and the West from submission to tyranny. We pick up Churchill where HBO’s Emmy-winning 2002 film The Gathering Storm left off. Hitler appeaser Neville Chamberlain has been discredited, and Churchill takes over as prime minister. After the successful retreat of the British Army from Dunkirk, France, Churchill...

An Exclusive Interview with former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation on March 13, 2009.

Employees are nervous – and rightfully so. The economic crisis and its resulting layoffs, consolidations, and organizational restructuring have people worried and distracted. Motivation is down. Absenteeism is up. Everyone wants to know, “What’s going to happen to me?” Rumors are running wild. In the midst of all this uncertainty and fear, it’s your job to help your team (or department or organization) stay engaged and focused on the business at hand. And for that, the “soft skills” of compassion, encouragement and motivation become crucial. People are looking to you for comfort and reassurance – and, most of all, for...

Barack Obama’s first 100 days just flu by, didn’t they? About the only thing to pass over the heads of Americans faster than the first three months of Obama’s first (and hopefully only) term was that Top-Secret, but apparently “routine” photo-op flight, where Air Force One, shadowed by F-16s, flew nearly nap-of-the-Earth and buzzed the tourists and office buildings in lower Manhattan. The only significance to Barack Obama’s first 100 days is that there are only 1,360 left, assuming he only serves one term. But since we have to live with Democrats and since Janet Napolitano and the Obama Administration...

Dr. Vaknin has written extensively about narcissism. Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Sen.Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident - a wholesome presidential package. I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American...

Ending: That is Obama to me at the present time. What I see is aggression from other countries. Disrespect from other countries. I see very little accomplished. I hope the next 100 days are better.

Ironically, the very things Morgan was accused of saying – questioning of Hinman had the ‘charisma’ to attract voters – is something I had brought up before.

"As American soldiers sacrificed blood in Afghanistan and Iraq to defend liberty, President Obama shrank from defending liberty here in the Americas," Romney wrote. "Vice President Biden was right that the new president would be tested early in his administration. What the world learned was not good news for freedom and democracy. The leader of the free world has been a timid advocate of freedom at best. And bold action to blunt the advances of tyrants has been wholly lacking." The former candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination said Obama may have failed in his early foreign-policy tests, but...

At last week’s Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. His response to Ortega’s denunciation of our effort to free Cuba from Castro’s dictatorship was that he shouldn’t be blamed “for things that happened when I was three months old.” Blamed? Hundreds of men, including Americans, bravely fought and died for Cuba’s freedom, heeding the call from newly elected president John F. Kennedy.....

Three months into the new Congress, Republicans are struggling to reinvent themselves on the fly as they adjust to life without a president of their own party or a majority in the House and Senate. Opposition to President Barack Obama's policies is relatively easy to achieve. But developing alternatives that can appeal outside the party's conservative core seems more difficult. On taxes and other issues, polling suggests Republican lawmakers are facing a far different electorate than the one that trusted them with control of Congress for more than a decade and twice elected George W. Bush president. "It seems like...

On the last Friday in March, President Barack Obama summoned leaders of the banking industry to the White House, where they gathered around a mahogany table in the sumptuous State Dining Room. On this day there was not a piece of fruit or can of soda in sight. At each place was a glass of water. No ice. No refills. The president's message was as hard and crusty as a slab of day-old bread. He urged the businessmen to view corporate excess through the eyes of Americans who are belt-tightening their way through the recession. Obama mentioned the carpet stains...

N.Korea Releases Photos of Military High Command Official North Korean newspapers released photos of all 12 members of North Korea's top organ of power, the Defense Commission, which is chaired by Kim Jong-il. The Rodong Sinmun and Minju Chosun released the photos after the new commission was confirmed by the recently elected rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly. In the past, North Korea released only the photos of the chairman and vice chairmen. The newspapers carried the photos on April 10, the day after the first full session of the new parliament. Kim was pictured on the front page. A...

Republicans have spent the first hundred days of the 111th Congress mostly down and shut out. While there's a realistic hope that they will be more involved in some upcoming policy decisions, the GOP still has a long way to go before the public sees it as constructive and cohesive rather than obstructionist and unruly. "There are seasons in politics, and right now it's winter for the Republicans," said Jack Pitney, a congressional expert at Claremont McKenna College in California. Polls indicate that the Republicans' approval ratings remain dismal: A March 27-29 Gallup poll found the congressional GOP approval rating...

Dozens of arts and education supporters gathered on the Capitol steps at noon last Friday to protest Gov. Sarah Palin's rejection of federal stimulus dollars. The state of Alaska was offered approximately $930 million from the federal government. Last Thursday, Palin decided to reject almost $288 million, much of which would have gone toward arts and education programs. Palin met protesters on the steps during the protest to answer questions and defend her decision. She said that rather than following national opinion on the matter, she is more concerned with managing Alaskan's expectations."I'm going to do what's best for Alaska,"...

President Barack Obama’s performance on “The Tonight Show” last week prompted various friends and colleagues to discuss the question of leadership. No one came up with a definition suitable for nailing to the wall or turning into a message to scroll across the computer screen. I suggested it may be one of those things we know when we don’t see it. Kinda the reverse of former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s description of hard-core pornography. He knew it when he saw it. And that’s the curious, if not tortured, parallel between lack of leadership and porn: with both, someone’s gonna...

WASHINGTON, March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Please find, below, the statement of Democratic National Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse on Governor Sarah Palin's decision to reject over $500 million in federal funds due the state of Alaska under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: "After soliciting and accepting more federal dollars per capita than any other governor in the union, Sarah Palin's decision today to deny the state of Alaska over half a billion dollars in recovery and reinvestment funds - including millions for schools, energy and public safety - appears to be nothing more than political posturing. At a time...

President Obama was called upon to lead and has utterly failed, and in less than two months. From the stimulus package that won't stimulate even Chris Matthews' leg, to the continuing series of ethically questionable political appointments, through an outrageous Congressional spending binge that included unfettered earmarks, he has passed on all the easy leadership opportunities. What will he do on the tougher issues? Recall that the presidential race was a dead heat when the economic crisis hit last fall. Obama's legendary calm, cool, and collected manner was viewed as better for dealing with a crisis and he pulled ahead....

On Monday I will be attending a seminar presented by Col Tom Kolditz of the US Military Academy, who has been invited by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to present on Leadership in extremis. I have never heard of Col Kolditz and, aside from his pro-forma biography available on the Internet, know little about him. However, his credentials with the US Military Academy seem genuine and indeed very interesting. As a leader of a Volunteer organization I can certainly use all the help and knowledge I can get -- particularly if it is from hi-quality sources. I'm curious to know...

As the world's finance ministers gather in London the greatest danger to the global economy is America's failure of resolve This could be the week when the greatest financial crisis in history finally reached its nadir. Then again, it could merely be another week in which a brief rally in global stock markets has suckered more investors, politicians and commentators into assuming that the worst is over, when the tentative improvement in financial confidence is just another false dawn. So which will it be? The answer depends, even more than usual, on the finance ministers and central bankers gathering at...

Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes. Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics, but perhaps not now, not in a once-in-a-century economic crisis. Swimming in the middle, he's denounced as a socialist by conservatives, criticized as a polite accommodator by government-is-the-answer liberals, and increasingly, dismissed as being in over his head by technocrats. Luckily for Obama, the public still likes and trusts him, at...

You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? Habakkuk 1:14-17 Habakkuk speaks truth when he states that men (and women) often have a "we want...

At least President Obama knows the economy has problems. He's spoken of a "financial crisis," a "housing crisis," a "credit crisis" - you name it. So he earns points for recognizing the ills that plague us. Too bad he isn't doing much about them. Sure, the administration's housing program promises to keep more Americans in their homes - but it cannibalizes the troubled financial industry to do so. It's clear that TARP won't solve the toxic-assets problem. Maybe Team Obama just prefers to let the financial sector remain one big Superfund site? No strategy has emerged to bring financial regulations...