Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
It's annoying.
I'm pretty good at my job and I expect others to have something resembling competence at theirs. And in this way, seeing Barack Obama is very annoying because he's so bad at his job.
I mean, we shouldn't expect him to be good at it. He's never done anything else in his life. He's never had a real job or had to do actual work. He had no preparation for it. It's all been government and law and academia. His resume might be experience enough to be a legislator, but not a president. A couple of years as a part-time law professor and then time in the Illinois Legislature isn't preparation. Judging by how he deals with Congress, his part of a part of one term as Senator obviously wasn't sufficient preparation.
He's fallen for his own hype. The man believes he is magical. He thinks that a speech or two, delivered from him, will magically change public opinion. He thinks that a government decree magically solves problems, be it the minimum wage or gun control. I'd peg him for an extremely cynical operator, but I frankly just don't think he is. I think he's just a true believer.
And this is painful to watch. I don't like seeing someone who is so obviously bad at their job.
So, I guess what I'm asking is:
Can we please not do this again? Can we please not elect someone who only has experience in government and law and academia? Can we please elect someone who has had an actual job?
I don't care what it is. He could drive a truck or be a business owner or a professional of some kind. He could have a job shoveling manure for all I care. Just at some point in his resume, we need his primary occupation and source of income to be not government or law or academia.
Just please, please, please can we not elect someone whose only frame of reference is government?
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Sep '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Oh, Fred....
I am convinced that Barack Obama is a brilliant student of the art of Chicago politics. He stands squarely in the tradition of Hizzoner, the legendary Richard J. Daley--a man who ruled Da City for decades, and built a political machine strong enough to endure for decades more.
He transcends Hizzoner, and even transcends that demi-god of divide-and-conquer, Fiorello LaGuardia, in his masterful ability to play constituencies off each other in single-minded pursuit of lasting political power.
Daley, LaGuardia, and Obama were (and are) judged by contemporary critics as fiscally reckless--they are. Massive spending, particularly public works spending; glorious speeches about jobs for the working man; and murky financial shenanigans that saddle future generations with mountains of debt are the hallmark of all three.
This is the future of the Democratic Party. This is their vision of the future for America.
May '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Obama is very good at his job. The results from his administration are not of incompetence, but very specific, calculated objectives achieved by a competent team of progressives slavishly loyal to the cult of Obama personality.
I will add that Nacy Pelosi will go down as one of the, if not the most effective legislator of this century. Who else could ram through a party line piece of junk like Obamacare, get her caucus run off to the minority, and still prevail as a party leader.
Fred, we aren't dealing with incompetence. We are dealing with ice cold blooded political professionals that are running our nation exactly as they said they would and consistent with their track record.
I think we will all do well to stop blaming this on incompetence of the winners and accept that this is what our country voted for in absence of a credible national alternative.
(that last paragraph should be worth about 10 add'l comments).
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
I think the incompetence stems less from inexperience (though that's part of it) than from a lack of interest due to ideology. He doesn't see his job the same way we do.
That said, I'd also prefer some experience in government, as well. At least one term as a governor, preferably in a purple state. Not a prerequisite, but much preferred.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Can we please not elect someone who only has experience in government and law and academia? Can we please elect someone who has had an actual job?
There's the problem.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
This is true. He thinks, because of his ideology, that he's perfectly suited for the job. And yeah, there seems to be a lack of interest in actual details.
Mercifully his big picture gets ground into dust by politics. That's why he's so annoyed by the actual politics and sausage making of it all. He thinks it should all be by decree and gets frustrated that it isn't.
He's alike and different from Wilson in that way. Wilson was frustrated by separation of powers and limits, but he understood them because they were part of his academic work. He still had the experience to work the levers.
Obama doesn't understand the mechanisms and gets frustrated that he even has to use them.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
@John & Brent:
He's really not.
Look at what he's accomplished: Nothing.
Obamacare should have been Single Payer. It's not. It's some clunky hybrid loaded with self contradictions and functional problems.
If he's the master Machiavellian, then what's the endgame?
That all this is some master plan to crash the economy and America and then rebuild it doesn't pan out. He didn't crash it. We're still going. He got reelected, but he lost the House and, were it not for the incompetence of his opponents, lost the Senate and the presidency.
Long ago I accepted the axiom that one should not blame on malevolence that which can adequately be blamed on incompetence.
That's Barack Obama: Incompetence.
You give the man too much credit.
May '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Fred - nobody is going to implement tyranny in our nation with an overt frontal attack. The only hope his soft tyranny, amputation by the inch. At that I think Obama and Pelosi will dwarf all others before them.
The steps this admin has put in motion with little resistance from republicans is designed to unhinge liberty and markets over time, not at once.
The repurcussions and consequences of the choices made by a majority of Americans and near flawlessly executed by Obama and Pelosi will be felt for decades and they know it.
Sep '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
I agree, Fred. He's good at his job in the same way Chicago politicians are good at their jobs. They're corrupt and they play fast and loose with the rule of law to get their way. They threaten, cajole and bribe. Since the media won't judge any of this at all, but sweeps everything under the rug, he gets away with it. That isn't skill and it isn't a plan.
May '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Fred regarding your note about Obamacare and single payer.
Our nation was/is not ready for single payer federal health care. Obama has to create a crisis in health care to which the only apparently viable solution is federal intervention.
His playbook is clear - he can only further his radical agenda when there is the appearance of desperation and no other alternative.
Obamacare never was designed as a lasting program or legislation. It is designed to fail and to eradicate any and all free market participants from health care leaving a crisis/void to be filled by the federal government.
We aren't going to stand for jack booted thugs taking over our lives, but when we have nowhere to turn but the federal government when we have a broken bone our resistance will be near zero.
Oct '10
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
No. Sorry. That time has past. Look at everyone involved on the editorial side of Ricochet. With the exception of Rob, government is their life. We even have (or had) the Young Guns podcast - tomorrow's pundits today. Talk about parasites upon parasites. (No offence to the persons involved intended, of course.)
Sep '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
I don't think it's going to go that way, Brent. In spite of Obamacare, better alternatives are already sprouting up involving low-level medical clinics in places like Walmart, online diagnosis and treatment and other innovations. It's the age of amazing technology. No, single payer is so five minutes ago and on the way out. Obama is living in the past and people are going to recognize it. Are Americans going to put up with death panels and the kind of non-care seen in Britain? I don't think so.
The flaws are becoming more and more obvious by the minute.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
I've never bought those decades long multi-generational conspiracies.
Let's examine this:
Barack Obama's master plan was to crash the healthcare system clearing the way for Single Payer.
So to do it, he farmed his signature healthcare legislation out to Pelosi, so they could squabble over every detail and drag it out for months, and pass something that the public hates and only survived the inevitable Supreme Court challenge by one vote.
How many people are on board with this planned crash?
Just Obama? Because, judging from their actions, Biden, Reid and Pelosi didn't get the overall strategic planning memo.
The problem with this plan is that its too precarious to work. They're just not that smart. They don't have that much control.
May '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Fred Cole
I've never bought those decades long multi-generational conspiracies.
Try comparing the original criteria of Social Security to what it has devolved into today. Progressives play the long game.
You are less than a decade away from writing a check to the federal government, or more appropriately having X% deducted from whatever pay you earn to go to national healthcare rationed by HHS.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
genferei
No. Sorry. That time has past. Look at everyone involved on the editorial side of Ricochet. With the exception of Rob, government is their life. We even have (or had) the Young Guns podcast - tomorrow's pundits today. Talk about parasites upon parasites. (No offence to the persons involved intended, of course.) · 11 minutes ago
Mollie has a newspaper background. On the outside looking in.
Look, there are governors and senators who have and do have real jobs and careers.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
BrentB67
Fred Cole
I've never bought those decades long multi-generational conspiracies.
Try comparing the original criteria of Social Security to what it has devolved into today. Progressives play the long game.
It doesn't look like a master plan. It instead looks like the patchwork that evolved as a result of politics. A result of long term trends, but not some master plan.
Aug '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
PracticalMary: Can we please not elect someone who only has experience in government and law and academia? Can we please elect someone who has had an actual job?
There's the problem. · 1 hour ago
To achieve that end, you will have to disenfranchise those voters who caused this problem, the government constituencies. "We" didn't elect Barack obama. If "we" had our way he would not be president, but "we" don't have enough say right now compared to those who are consitutents of the government who are perfectly willing to vote for barack obama, et al, who will take from the others (that is, "we") and distribute for their benefit. The question is, how do you convince a "welfare queen," whether they are an actual welfare dependent, a labor union government dependent, a crony capitalist government dependent, etc., to vote contrary to their pocketbook interest and their class envy.
Edited on February 19, 2013 at 5:02pmOct '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
This is pretty rich, Fred, coming from you, who, I'm pretty sure, voted for that Libertarian candidate for President, whose name I can't remember because he had no chance of winning. In which case, you're part of the problem, so you don't get to complain.
Dec '12
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Now, be fair. Fred's in NY, so his vote for a GOP Presidential candidate doesn't count anyway.
Jul '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
People like to tout the success of the Athenian Democracy, but it only lasted till the first non- military man took office.
For all it's faults, monarchies had one thing going for them - each monarch had to be trained in the art of war as well as diplomacy.
I for one would not mind mandating military service as a qualification for the job of commander of our armed forces.
Nov '11
Re: Can We Not Do This Again, Please?
Central Scrutinizer: Now, be fair. Fred's in NY, so his vote for a GOP Presidential candidate doesn't count anyway. · 0 minutes ago
Yeah. And the guy I voted for started a one-man handyman business and built it up and sold it and became a millionaire. I'd say that qualifies under my standard.
And I voted for Ron Paul in the primary. He also qualifies. He wasn't a professional politician, he spent years in practice as an OBGYN.
This whole thing isn't about Barack Obama so much as about candidates in the future. I'm worried about the next president whose only experience is government, law and academia.
We cannot change the past, we can only change the future. Thus: Can we please not do this again.
Edited on February 19, 2013 at 5:14pm