TerriHaute
Hoosier Gardener
This is one of the best columns I've read lately. I think Clyde nails it. - Terri
by Clyde
My RADAR went up several months ago when Obama proposed that Middle East peace talks be brokered by Turkey. What an odd choice, I thought. Turkey is a torn country, and no friend of Israel. And it wasn't as if France and England hadn't already spoken to Obama about his obvious fawning for Turkey during an economic summit. Thankfully, Egypt and Jordan took a public stand, and Turkey was out of any Middle East peace talks. How embarrassing. But there was something to learn from the faux pax.
Then Obama took a scatter-shot approach to the peace talks - stupidly demanding a total freeze on settlements (another faux pax which still has a footprint), suggesting a tunnel under Israel for safe passage, saying that Israel and the Palestinian Authority could keep all settlements either had in the other's land (presuming not just that Israel will give up large portions of Judea and Samaria, but they she would also give up lands presently inside Israel proper), and on and on and on. It was as if he had no idea what would work, so he suggested everything he could think of. In public.
Then came the Harvard professor crack, followed by the opposite approach - the "no rush to judgment" routine concerning a clear terrorist act at Ft. Hood. And now he tells Jake Tapper that he is absolutely cutting $500 billion from Medicare, and will veto any bill that doesn't have that provision.
There's a theme here. And it's a disturbing and far-reaching one: Obama is politically tone deaf. He has no idea of the reaction to the words he speaks. None. Complete zero. An utter vacuum.
Part of the fault lies with his career path. As a community organizer, the drill was noise over substance. Remember that he left Illinois several years after he stopped agitating, and the asbestos was still in the building that was the center of his cacophony. His state senate and US Senate runs were both taken with no one left standing but him on the day before elections. Without being judged on the quality of his ideas, all of his opponents somehow had personal issues requiring them to exit the race. (The only exception was the earlier US House run, which he lost.) His US Senate career yielded nothing but obvious legislation, and his POTUS run was full of empty platitudes or outright lies (demand renegotiation of NAFTA).
Obama has never been required to say something, do it, and then be held accountable. I am certainly not attributing a high level of intelligence to him - because he has both failed to warrant it and provided ample evidence to the contrary - but he is like the high-school sophomore that tests so well that he enters college: A 14 year-old that is utterly lacking in the life experience necessary to cope on an equal basis.
Only with Obama, the shortfall is political experience. And his political speech is what suffers. And thereupon is added the most insidious layer of all: He can't shut up.
I read a slamming op-ed written in response to the "shout out" he gave some guy in the audience (where he also wrongly attributed the honor the guy had received) before he switched gears and spoke of the Ft. Hood tragedy. The article said that Obama "lacked a heart." While I think it's a good point, I take a different route. Obama had absolutely no clue how the words he spoke would be received. None. His political acumen has all the life of the Monty Python parrot.
What are the implications of his vacuity? The most direct is an inability to achieve course corrections. He decides the destination, health-care, for example, and the train leaves the station. Every focus is on only achieving the goal. He can't accept tea-party protests as well-meaning protests by caring Americans. They are haters trying to make him look bad by preventing his success. He can't accept polls showing 53% of folks don't want his HC plan because, well, it's the wrong answer.
Ask yourself this: Has Obama even once indicated he was wrong on anything? The obvious place to look is Afghanistan, yet he has not once said that the plan he is so deeply reviewing and changing is his own plan from March 2009. Any reference to the past has leaped over that inconvenient fact so that he could blame the Bush Administration.
Look to Iran. Nothing has been accomplished except for the "cut-off date" slipping from summer to September to the end of 2009. His goal is to get Iran to end nuclear development. It won't, so he keeps giving them more time to do it. He has not changed course in response to new facts.
Look to North Korea. No unilateral talks, "I won't reward bad behavior." Now there is going to be unilateral talks. And that's just one crease in the origami-style foreign policy he has implemented. The achievements? None. NK continues doing what it wants to, and Obama has only talked. He has not changed course in response to new facts.
Look to Honduras. Zaleya tried to pull a clear violation of that country's Constitution. As the facts piled up, Obama refused to stop calling it a coup. No course correction.
And now we see what underlies this tone deafness and inability to change tracks: He deems himself incapable of error.
Ah, how many times have we heard - "As I have always said," "I've been saying for months," and "My position has always been"? He prides himself on being flawless. More? When something is proven clearly wrong, what happens? Someone goes under the bus. Blame is completely laid upon the head of another, and capital punishment administered.
He is politically tone deaf.
He is incapable of course corrections.
He is incapable of error.
Charting these three points brings us to a leader that may commit our country to a path down which all the howls of protest will go unheard. We will be hurt as a country. And for the first time, I am not so sure the scar that is Obama will heal in my lifetime.
http://patriotroom.com/article/obama-a-scar-that-may-not-heal
by Clyde
My RADAR went up several months ago when Obama proposed that Middle East peace talks be brokered by Turkey. What an odd choice, I thought. Turkey is a torn country, and no friend of Israel. And it wasn't as if France and England hadn't already spoken to Obama about his obvious fawning for Turkey during an economic summit. Thankfully, Egypt and Jordan took a public stand, and Turkey was out of any Middle East peace talks. How embarrassing. But there was something to learn from the faux pax.
Then Obama took a scatter-shot approach to the peace talks - stupidly demanding a total freeze on settlements (another faux pax which still has a footprint), suggesting a tunnel under Israel for safe passage, saying that Israel and the Palestinian Authority could keep all settlements either had in the other's land (presuming not just that Israel will give up large portions of Judea and Samaria, but they she would also give up lands presently inside Israel proper), and on and on and on. It was as if he had no idea what would work, so he suggested everything he could think of. In public.
Then came the Harvard professor crack, followed by the opposite approach - the "no rush to judgment" routine concerning a clear terrorist act at Ft. Hood. And now he tells Jake Tapper that he is absolutely cutting $500 billion from Medicare, and will veto any bill that doesn't have that provision.
There's a theme here. And it's a disturbing and far-reaching one: Obama is politically tone deaf. He has no idea of the reaction to the words he speaks. None. Complete zero. An utter vacuum.
Part of the fault lies with his career path. As a community organizer, the drill was noise over substance. Remember that he left Illinois several years after he stopped agitating, and the asbestos was still in the building that was the center of his cacophony. His state senate and US Senate runs were both taken with no one left standing but him on the day before elections. Without being judged on the quality of his ideas, all of his opponents somehow had personal issues requiring them to exit the race. (The only exception was the earlier US House run, which he lost.) His US Senate career yielded nothing but obvious legislation, and his POTUS run was full of empty platitudes or outright lies (demand renegotiation of NAFTA).
Obama has never been required to say something, do it, and then be held accountable. I am certainly not attributing a high level of intelligence to him - because he has both failed to warrant it and provided ample evidence to the contrary - but he is like the high-school sophomore that tests so well that he enters college: A 14 year-old that is utterly lacking in the life experience necessary to cope on an equal basis.
Only with Obama, the shortfall is political experience. And his political speech is what suffers. And thereupon is added the most insidious layer of all: He can't shut up.
I read a slamming op-ed written in response to the "shout out" he gave some guy in the audience (where he also wrongly attributed the honor the guy had received) before he switched gears and spoke of the Ft. Hood tragedy. The article said that Obama "lacked a heart." While I think it's a good point, I take a different route. Obama had absolutely no clue how the words he spoke would be received. None. His political acumen has all the life of the Monty Python parrot.
What are the implications of his vacuity? The most direct is an inability to achieve course corrections. He decides the destination, health-care, for example, and the train leaves the station. Every focus is on only achieving the goal. He can't accept tea-party protests as well-meaning protests by caring Americans. They are haters trying to make him look bad by preventing his success. He can't accept polls showing 53% of folks don't want his HC plan because, well, it's the wrong answer.
Ask yourself this: Has Obama even once indicated he was wrong on anything? The obvious place to look is Afghanistan, yet he has not once said that the plan he is so deeply reviewing and changing is his own plan from March 2009. Any reference to the past has leaped over that inconvenient fact so that he could blame the Bush Administration.
Look to Iran. Nothing has been accomplished except for the "cut-off date" slipping from summer to September to the end of 2009. His goal is to get Iran to end nuclear development. It won't, so he keeps giving them more time to do it. He has not changed course in response to new facts.
Look to North Korea. No unilateral talks, "I won't reward bad behavior." Now there is going to be unilateral talks. And that's just one crease in the origami-style foreign policy he has implemented. The achievements? None. NK continues doing what it wants to, and Obama has only talked. He has not changed course in response to new facts.
Look to Honduras. Zaleya tried to pull a clear violation of that country's Constitution. As the facts piled up, Obama refused to stop calling it a coup. No course correction.
And now we see what underlies this tone deafness and inability to change tracks: He deems himself incapable of error.
Ah, how many times have we heard - "As I have always said," "I've been saying for months," and "My position has always been"? He prides himself on being flawless. More? When something is proven clearly wrong, what happens? Someone goes under the bus. Blame is completely laid upon the head of another, and capital punishment administered.
He is politically tone deaf.
He is incapable of course corrections.
He is incapable of error.
Charting these three points brings us to a leader that may commit our country to a path down which all the howls of protest will go unheard. We will be hurt as a country. And for the first time, I am not so sure the scar that is Obama will heal in my lifetime.
http://patriotroom.com/article/obama-a-scar-that-may-not-heal
