That Is Not My Style
Yesterday a well known (and friendly) television journalist from PBS asked President Obama about the progress of universal health care legislation. He asked him politely, “Mr. President, don’t you think it is about time for you to twist a few arms?” like LBJ would have done.
Barack Obama answered “That is not my style.” I heard him. It is past time for the common voters in this American Democracy to discover just what Obama’s style is. We didn’t think his style was one of “losing” but maybe we were wrong.
Since Eisenhower, America has been pretty unsuccessful at electing good presidents. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote at length about the best way for a democracy to insure that it elects good leaders. Candidates for leadership positions have to be well educated in book learning but also widely experienced in life. They should not be involved in politics just because they hope this profession will make them rich and powerful. They must be true leaders, not just successful clerks, pussy chasers, greed driven crooks, or Napoleonic dictators. They cannot be cowards who always shy away from a fight. A president’s biggest fights usually occur not with other countries, but with the other elected officials in Washington D.C., i.e. the nation’s congressmen and senators.
Kennedy had problems with his addiction to prescription drugs, and spent too much of his energy having affairs with women like Marilyn Monroe. Johnson’s voice marked him as an ignorant southerner, even though some of the country’s best civil rights legislation came out of his skill and dedication. Indeed Johnson may go down in history as one of the country’s finest presidents.
Reagan had a deep, resonant voice which made us feel good inside. His training and life experiences as an actor meant that he could read his lines with great sincerity. But as a president he was just a tool, doing a good job of reading his lines. Nixon (Tricky Dicky) was a detestable, mentally ill man. Ford was a nice man of good character, but not of outstanding intellect or ideas. Carter had been in the military where he had learned a bit about nuclear energy. He and his wife cared about many of the right things, but he was far too much of a true believer in the Christian religious faith, and he proved that he was not a leader of men.
Bill Clinton’s ethics were weak. As has been proven since he stepped down from the presidency, having been raised poor in a single parent environment, getting rich and famous was very important to him. The methods Slick Willy Clinton used for getting rich can be questioned. Bush I was a glorified clerk with the voice of a young girl, and his son Bush II was an ignorant, poorly educated, ex-alcoholic who had no pretence of being a leader. Both Clinton and Bush II actively went out of their way to avoid military service to their country. If a president is going to send young people off to die on foreign soil, he should have first-hand experience serving in the military, and not just in peace time but in actual combat.
So let’s take another look at Obama. Raised poor in a single parent environment. The father, who quickly disappeared, was from Africa. Obama’s mother was a dedicated person from a decent hard working family. Barack Obama is very smart, and he performed quite well in the academic environment. He did not choose to serve in the nation’s military. He did not work his way up through the weeding-out process of the hyper competitive environment of business. His history does not show that he has had experience in leadership, or that he has ever been successful as a seasoned and proven leader of men.
During the long campaign for the Presidency he was extremely eloquent in espousing great ideas. He said that he was in favor of science based research (stem cells) and supportive of the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state. He wanted to end the wars, bring the troops home, and stop spending such a vast amount of money on warfare. Instead the size of the military is actually expanding under Obama.
He painted a sincere picture of wanting to work across the lines and end all the partisan bickering in Washington. Bush II said the said the exact same stuff when he was running for President.
Obama openly and clearly stated that he supported single payer universal health care. He had a wonderful but sad story he would tell about his own mother fighting with health insurance companies as she was dying from cancer.
We are now six months into the Obama presidency and we have learned more about him. He immediately surrounded himself with the same types of Wall Street accountants and economists that the prior administrations had gotten horrible advice from. He had hidden the fact from the voters that in 2009 he was still a closet smoker who didn’t have to strength of character to totally quit smoking. The worker’s trade unions have not gained strength because this liberal guy was elected to the presidency. Jobs going overseas has not slowed. The gays have been very unsatisfied with his performance.
He has not ended the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, and spending on the military is still increasing. His support for single payer universal health care has apparently vanished. The vicious and ignorant right wingers have voted against his proposals 100% of the time. He has been no more successful at ending the bickering or uniting Washington than Bush II was.
It looks suspiciously like 6 months into his presidency Obama has already lost the battle. Even with a clear democratic majority in both the house and the senate. Obama’s personal lack of backbone has meant that an increasingly large number of people from the progressive side of the political spectrum are giving up on him. We see now that Barack Obama is apparently nothing but a big sissy. A coward who is afraid of a fight. “Not my style.”
Oh dear, oh dear. And the times are so serious. We had hoped for a real leader.
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