I was one of the millions who cheered on election night 2008 when Barack Obama became President-elect. Although a die-hard supporter of Hillary Clinton during most of the primaries, I still felt that not only had America dodged the bullet of McCain/Palin in the White House, and that a truly historic moment in American history had arrived, but also that we had elected a competent person to run the country for the next four years.
Unfortunately it became obvious very quickly that one rousing speech during a Democratic Convention four years earlier does not a competent president make. It does not even ensure a President who is capable of properly communicating his goals, policies and achievement outside of the campaign environment.
His first legislative challenge, the Health Care Reform Bill was a complete failure. In spite of the Democratic majority in both houses, he felt compelled to pursue a “bi-partisan” mirage in the face of open and repeated assertions by the Republican leadership that their highest goal was to ensure the failure of President Obama. As the President lost the initiative, Health Care Reform morphed into Health Insurance Reform, missing the key ingredient of a “public option” to keep the rapacious health insurance industry in check.
A major part of the failure lies in the President’s unwillingness or inability to forcefully make his case for true Health Care Reform. As eloquent as he was during the campaign trail, he turned out to be a complete flop as a communicator when it really counted. This allowed the tide of public support, which was palpable during the campaign, to dry up and eventually, with the drumbeat of Republican misinformation, turn into opposition.
Yes, the resulting bill does include some useful components regarding pre-existing conditions and allowing young people to remain on their parent’s insurance through college. But, for a very large number of people, the most visible net result is that their insurance premiums have been raised dramatically by insurance companies, who claim that higher rates are needed to allow them to provide for the new coverage requirements.
And that was it for the first legislative period of Obama’s presidency. Then came the drubbing of the mid-term election. It is a testament to the depth of Obama’s failings that his sellout to the Republicans on the extension of the Bush Tax Cut, supposedly necessary to obtain an extension of unemployment funding to help Americans survive the Republican orchestrated financial and economic meltdown, was hailed as a “victory” for President Obama during the lame duck session.
Fast forward to March 2011. Popular unrest in North Africa. Massive demonstrations in Egypt. The Obama Administration obviously caught completely unprepared. The embarrassing admission by Leon Panetta, before the Senate, admitting about the impending resignation of Hosni Mubarak that “I got the same information you did, that there's a strong likelihood that Mubarak may step down this evening." A president at some level is only as good as the people he surrounds himself with.
President Obama got a pass in Egypt: Hosni Mubarak did actually resign - not when the CIA (eh.. the press) said he would, but he did go. And then comes Libya.
Again, completely clueless. Who are the “rebels”? What is their organization? How strong are they militarily? When a revolutionary council was formed, who are the players? Do we recognize them? Where is the CIA with its billions of dollars worth of “intelligence” (now there is an oxymoron)?
For once the Europeans got ahead of us. France recognized the provisional government in Benghazi and, together with the UK, committed to enforce a no-fly zone. Statements were made by Obama that “Gaddafi must go”. The media mounted a campaign to intervene with military force by providing a drumbeat of completely one-sided accounts (and as it turns out, incorrect) of the rebel successes and Gaddafi’s impending ouster. Again, where was our billion dollar CIA?
In the meantime the see-saw in Libya goes on. The rebels quickly “gain control” of a large portion of the country and Gaddafi is seemingly on the ropes - the word from the provisional government is “stay out of it”. Platitudes from Obama. Libyan government forces come seemingly out of nowhere and quickly regain control of most of the country, threatening to unleash a “blood-bath” in Benghazi. Now we finally have a “humanitarian disaster” which must be averted. The Arab League and the UN are mobilized to give the US the legitimacy to unleash our awesome military power to reap destruction on Libya to make it safe for democracy.
Thank you, Mr. President. Now we have three “?????” (turd sandwiches?) without defined objectives, with no clear US interest being threatened, with no exit strategy, indeterminate costs, and, very likely, constantly changing “guidelines”. Does anyone really believe (after Afghanistan and Iraq) that we can effect “regime change” without ground forces? Just like Vietnam, first CIA operative, arms delivery, trainers, limited troops and 50,000 casualties later we see Americans being evacuated from rooftops in Saigon.
And to top it all off, our fabled communicator, President Obama, presents his eagerly anticipated speech to the nation on Tuesday to provide direction and clarity to a seemingly confused and confusing set of objectives and actions, only to leave us all .... completely confused.
No comments:
Post a Comment