Sometimes Obama
Seems
A Little Detached
Gary Gerard,
dumbhoosier.com
Seems to me that President Barack Obama needs to be a little
more
engaged in the things that Americans are concerned about.
I am not naive about these things. I know that the president
of the
United States is in constant contact with his cabinet and
advisers.
He’s never “out of the loop” on anything. But sometimes
Obama really
comes across as indecisive, ambivalent – or not much of a
leader.
See, that was one thing about the much-maligned last
president, George
W. Bush. He was a leader and he wanted to be perceived as a
leader.
President Bush gave up golf because he felt it trivialized
our troops
in harm’s way. You may completely disagree with his
position, but he
could lead.
I guess I don’t see a lot of that sentiment present in
President Obama.
I get the sense he prefers to lead by consensus, which,
sometimes may
not be a bad thing. But once in a while you just have to
stick your
neck out and make a decision. If your head gets lopped off,
well, so be
it, but I think President Obama is reluctant to do that.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world and I think
Americans are
just looking for him to lead.
Ghadafi is about to crush the Libyan revolt.
Japan is on the verge of a potential nuclear disaster the
likes of
which the world has never known.
Gas prices are inching toward $4 per gallon, threatening the
rickety
economic recover.
The budget deficit in February alone was $223 million and
our fearless
leaders in Congress are carping over cutting a lousy $60
billion – a
year.
Unions supporters are protesting in several state capitals.
Now is the time for Obama to lead. Now is the time for Obama
to take
positions on these issues, make those positions known, and
take steps
to enact them.
I may or may not agree with the positions he’d take, but
that’s O.K. He
just needs to lead.
He needs to rise to the challenge and show all of us that he
is in
charge – in control. I’m just not getting that vibe.
Obama also does not seem concerned about how the public
perceives his
leadership or lack thereof. That could spell trouble for
him.
He got the call about the Japan earthquake/tsunami in the
wee hours of
last Saturday morning. Then it was off to a round of golf
and a taping
of his bracket picks for the NCAA men’s basketball
tournament on ESPN.
I watched a little of the ESPN thing. The president is no
average
college basketball fan. He knows far more about teams and
players than
I do, which is not all that much, I guess. But the bottom
line is, in
order to have that much hoops knowledge, you have to spend
some time.
President Obama has 24/7 access to the every major news
outlet
worldwide and since last weekend amid all the craziness in
the world,
he hasn’t said boo.
Well, he did have his weekly radio address last week where
he talked
about education. And he did admonish college hoops fans to
take a break
from filling out their brackets and make a donation to
Japan.
Oh, and there was a Washington, D.C., fundraiser – the
Gridiron Club
Dinner – where, as is customary, the president delivered a
stand-up
routine.
In it, he actually chided Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
about her
strong views on Libya.
“I’ve dispatched Hillary to the Middle East to talk about
how these
countries can transition to new leaders — though, I’ve got
to be
honest, she’s gotten a little passionate about the subject,”
Obama said.
“These past few weeks it’s been tough falling asleep with
Hillary out
there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing rocks at the
window.”
O.K., so Hillary is busting her hump in the Middle East and
he’s joking
about it at a fundraiser?
That’s interesting because I read an piece online that said
Obama’s
indecision on Libya has pretty much pushed Hillary Clinton
over the
edge.
Joshua Hersh, writing for The Daily, quoted a source
close to
Hillary, regarding her work with Libyan rebels: “Obviously,
she’s not
happy with dealing with a president who can’t decide if
today is
Tuesday or Wednesday, who can’t make his mind up. She’s
exhausted,
tired.”
Seems so because Clinton announced she’s done working for
Obama after
2012, even if he wins re-election. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked
her four
times earlier this week during an interview if she would
accept a post
in second Obama administration.
Each answer was a terse, single word: “No.”
Perhaps that changed in the wee hours Friday morning. That’s
when the
U.N. – with the belated blessing of the Obama administration
– approved
a resolution to establish a no-fly zone and use targeted air
strikes to
defend Libyan rebels. That’s what Hillary had been urging
for a couple
of weeks.
But Hillary isn’t the only one disillusioned with the
president these
days.
According to a Rasmussen poll out this week, just 22 percent
of likely
U.S. voters say the country is heading in the right
direction, the
lowest level of confidence found since before President
Obama’s
inauguration in January 2009.
Seventy-two percent of voters now say the country is headed
in the
wrong direction, also the highest since the election.
And in a poll out at the end of February, President Obama’s
leadership
rating had fallen to its lowest level since he took office.
Just 37 percent of likely U.S. voters said the president is
doing a
good or excellent job as a leader. Forty percent rate
his
performance as poor.
This weekend, President Obama will take his first official
trip to
Brazil where he will speak in Cinelandia Square in downtown
Rio de
Janeiro. According to a story on Forbes.com, security is so
tight that
not even the Embassy or U.S. Consulate in Rio know exactly
what’s going
on.
Also from Forbes, “The Obama family will also take in the
sights in
Rio. A trip to Corcovado mountain, where the Christ the
Redeemer statue
stands (France gave us Lady Liberty, gave Brazil Jesus) is
supposedly
on the itinerary. What trip to Rio would be complete without
it? If
they do make it to the top of the mountain, they will do so
with an
entourage of secret service and Brazil’s Elite Squad, known
as BOPE.”
Sounds like a relaxing trip.
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