Copyright by John T. Reed — Sign up here for free email updates
The Thanksgiving Charlie Rose Show featured a panel of people who were generally Obama supporters. Hearing they were going to review his presidency thus far I rolled my eyes and began wondering what else was on. But I let it continue to run just in case it was not going to be 30 minutes of “Obama can do no wrong.” The panelists were:
• Hendrik Hertzberg New Yorker Magazine author of the book ¡OBÁMANOS! (which roughly means “let’s Obama” in Spanish)
• Les Gelb Council on Foreign Relations author of Power Rules How common Sense can rescue American Foreign Policy
• Arianna Huffington
• John Harris of Politico
• David Bromwich Yale English Professor
When Hertzberg spoke, it was almost all Obama can do no wrong. He should have been replaced by a tent card with that message on it.
Very disappointed
Amateurish display
Haven’t gotten their act together yet
Trip to Asia that he probably should not have taken because it did not accomplish anything
Something is awry and he’s gotta fix it
Obama’s instinct is to get out of Afghanistan
not much good management
troops on the ground don’t know what’s going on
comments on Afghanistan before fall, 2009 were emphatic, then he just says April Fool and suggests what he previously said may be the opposite of what he now believes
enough errors that Obama should be asking himself what’s wrong and start to make fixes
Described himself as an “Obamaphile.” The suffix “phile” means lover. You can ignore everything else he said except one great line.
Obama will give troops for the military and rhetoric for the skeptics.
excuses all lack of results as “laying the groundwork”
very concerned about his decision to escalate in Afghanistan
puts into question his whole leadership
exactly what he said during the campaign he would not be doing
incredible indictment of the president
splitting the difference
trying to please everybody
promised unemployment would not go above 8.5% if stimulus passed
Obama focused an Wall Street instead of Main Street
almost universal sense that there has to be a course correction
no sense of adequate urgency on the economy
the fix is in
will respond rhetorically to his critics of foreign policy but words do not match actions
doubling down on troop commitment to Afghanistan
equivocating rhetoric
Obama administration, like Clinton’s, wears its underwear on the outside
Obama spends a lot of time living in his head
approaches foreign and domestic policy as a kind of Rubik’s Cube
20-point swing among independents against Obama in recent months
let best chance to get out of Afghanistan (leaking of Afghan ambassador recommendation to get out) pass by
not going to give up a credible account of who were fighting but why
I had higher hopes than have been fulfilled
overrates the power of words just as words to move people the way he would like them to move
fails to comprehend the effect of gestures like taking months to come to about the same decision everyone expected at the outset on Afghanistan
He does not have the right manner of weighing words versus gestures
would like to please everybody and to offend no one
lacks economy of words
acts conventionally but signals I’d really like to be doing this other thing trying to please all sides
pure Obama: using language that I am aware of all the objections but I’m saying what I’m saying anyway
To be sure, many of these comments relate to the fact that Obama has not been as big of a Commie and conscientious objector as many of his supporters expected. They are unhappy that the deficit is too small, that any troops are in Afghanistan or Iraq.
But I still think it’s noteworthy that he cannot even please his staunchest supporters.
Many of these comments are generic criticism. That is they are about leadership, not partisanship. In general, they are saying
• Obama has his head in the clouds
• he has a tin ear about a lot of stuff like taking forever to decide on Afghanistan while troops are dying there
• amateurish rookie
• too slow to recognize when Plan A is not working and moving to Plan B
• brazen about lying and changing positions 180 degrees
• trying to please everybody while in a job where that is by definition impossible
• insufficient sense of urgency and ability to pick the correct priorities
• too academic and ivory tower
• too much talk and reliance on talk alone (campaign mode)
• blind to unfavorable appearances
• overconfident (e.g. Olympics, Cambridge beer summit)
• verbose
• thinks merely acknowledging the other side’s views placates them
To a large extent, the unhappiness stems from the fact that Obama is just another lying politicians who tries to be all things to all people. Reagan gave the right actions like tax cuts, deregulation, and military build-up. But when it came to social conservatism like abortion, prayer in schools, and the like, he only gave them rhetoric, no action.
Obama suffers more than most typical politicians from being a typical politician because he swore on a stack of Bibles that he was going to change all that and not be like that. No more earmarks, no more irresponsible spending, no more lobbyists, no more lack of transparency—all broken promises without the slightest acknowledgment or apology or explanation.
I appreciate informed, well-thought-out constructive criticism and suggestions. If there are any errors or omissions in my facts or logic, please tell me about them. If you are correct, I will fix the item in question. If you wish, I will give you credit. Where appropriate, I will apologize for the error. To date, I have been surprised at how few such corrections I have had to make.