Missing Leadership

A Very Inept
American President

Posted on March 18, 2011

There can only be one outcome from projecting weakness. Weakness is an affront to everyone. Obama epitomizes the old saying, “If you aren’t slow and you aren’t fast, then you are only half-fast.” Or how about “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling is the best analogy I can come up with to describe Obama.

Libya: Indecision by Obama has resulted in the deaths of thousands. He gave positive statements that the Rebels in Libya took to heart. First, he stated that all options were on the table, including a no fly zone. Then Obama made a public pronouncement that Gaddafi should step down and stop the violence. This talk gave heart to the Rebels. Obama’s pronouncements gave the Rebels the impression that he was on their side – but they got dithering instead of help. Deferring the decision about Libya to the U.N. was acceptable, but he refused to be a champion for any idea. Instead of leading, he deferred that leadership to others.

At this point, please note that my complaint is not that we are not helping the Rebels of Libya. My complaint is that he should have taken the lead on the issue … Obama surely had intelligence about the Rebels as to who they were, and what their takeover would mean to the United States. A leader would have led the way advocating for or against a ‘no fly zone’. His advocacy one way or the other would have given the participants the opportunity to adjust their strategy. But such leadership did not happen. The only leading Obama did was to lead the Rebels into thinking that they were going to get help. If Obama had led instead of dithering, it would have saved a lot of lives, but Obama opted for silence instead of leadership.

His dithering has now made the United States the bad guy in the whole sordid affair. The Arabs blame us for not acting.

Obama is not a leader. His ‘lack of leadership’ has been visible for a long time by just looking at his voting record in Illinois and in the Senate. He refused to go on record about controversial issues, by voting ‘present’ instead of taking a position.

The one decision that you can count on from Obama is going on vacations. One of the most dangerous places in Washington to be is between Obama and a vacation.

Obama has tapped into the Utopian dreams of our young. Yes, their enthusiasm and adulation breams over for one of their own. It is a fraternity of inexperienced, moon-eyed, individuals without the credentials of ever having survived life without the props of mom and dad. However, Obama is not an object of adulation from the people who have managed to thrive because of their hard work and dedication. Those people made the effort to carve out a niche and live as free people. They do not support Obama.

Obama’s support is from the inexperienced, life’s failures, and those who seek power. His base is singular minded in that they want to take away from the doers in our society and redistribute their wealth to those who want and are unwilling to put forth the effort to achieve.

As I write this article, the United Nations has just passed the resolution for a ‘no-fly-zone’ over Libya. From the AP I learned that the vote was 10 votes for and 5 abstentions. The 5 abstentions were Brazil, Russia, India, Germany, and China. France and Lebanon championed the resolution. According to the AP: “Thursday’s vote came only after the Arab League agreed Saturday to support a no-fly zone over Libya. President Obama has not yet approved the use of U.S. military assets. Obama has preferred to let other nations publicly lead the response to the Libyan crisis, and White House officials said he would not appear on camera Thursday night to speak about the U.N. vote.”

After some snooping, other details leap out at you. Gaddafi, widely quoted by the news has stated that he would kick out the western oil companies and opt instead for a deal with the Chinese, Russians, and others for Libyan oil. Because the Chinese hold so much of our debt, and Obama is relying on China to buy more of it, Obama chose to not champion either side of the of the issue. He was voting ‘present’ at a time when leadership was needed. It was only with the insistence of the Arab League that the United States voted for the resolution.

Again, I quote from the AP about the resolution… “This marked a dramatic about-face by the Obama administration which for weeks hesitated about supporting a no-fly zone, fearing that the United States could get sucked into another war in a Muslim nation.”

Of course, the statement about fearing the U.S. could get sucked into another Muslim nation war is just a fig leaf for Obama. Actually, his motivation for all the dithering was to placate the Chinese – they practically own us. All of Obama’s reckless spending has robbed us of our autonomy and independence. So now we straddle fences and in the process project weakness. How sad for a nation that was once the envy of the world.

Hopefully in 2012 we can find someone among us with some leadership skills. By the way, this new U.N. resolution may not succeed. If Gaddafi succeeds in capturing the Rebel home base before the U.N. can stop him, it will have been all for naught. Thousands will have been slaughtered needlessly because of Obama’s dithering and cow towing.

Foreign Policy Quote: There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.."
- George Washington

Cheers,
-Robert-

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