When you run for an office, lambasting its occupant for his fiscal failures, you know that should you succeed in replacing him, you’re going to have to clean up the messes he will have left behind. In the third presidential debate in October, then-candidate Barack Obama detailed the fiscal mess he would be inheriting should he win the presidential contest that fall:
When President Bush came into office, we had a budget surplus and the national debt was a little over $5 trillion. It has doubled over the last eight years.
And we are now looking at a deficit of well over half a trillion dollars.
With Obama’s deficits, that half a trillion sounds like chump change. The Democrat was aware of the problems and yet even two-and-one-half years into his term, he still bemoans the mess he inherited. By detailing this problem and promised “change,” Obama made clear that once elected, he would roll up his sleeves and fix the problems he was expecting to inherit.
In the recent debt debate, he didn’t offer his own plan to face the crisis head on. After the Senate unanimously rejected his budget (with a projected deficit thrice a half-trillion dollars), he has yet to put forward an alternative plan. That doesn’t sound like rolling up his sleeves to me.
On Saturday, Glenn Reynolds linked a video where a real leader told us how she faces inherited problems:
Note what she says at 1:47; she acknowledges the president inherited a mess, but points out that as a CEO of a company, she inherits a mess everyday. “That is my job title, to fix problems, to get people to work together in harmony for one common goal.” Finally, she says the president needs to put together a plan asks the president, “Why can’t you put together a plan.”
In short, if you inherit problems, you put together a plan to fix them. Mr. President, what’s your plan?
Dan, how dare you – Obama has a plan!
1) Give pressers and speeches to whine and blame others.
2) Raise taxes.
(P.S. for Martians or people in the 29th century, that comment was a jest)
This whole thing is embarrassing, where is he?? I read that he played golf today, if that’s true good Lord this is pathetic. Where are the Republicans?? Did Boehner say anything?? What about our Navy Seals that were slaughtered? We saw the financial mess coming, the death of our bravest, our heroes is gut wrenching.
Jann,
Obama golfs because the violin is too hard for him to play. Otherwise he would fiddle while the republic burns.
Obama ran for President for nearly two-years. He’s been POTUS for over 30-months. And he STILL DOESN’T HAVE A PLAN?? …after 4-1/2 years!!
You can send a teenager through High School faster.
You can graduate with a B.A./B.S. College Degree faster.
The American participation in WW2 was shorter.
The American Civil War was shorter.
Leaders lead; they come up with solutions for problems & fix them. Obama, on the other hand, gives responsbility to other people while he plays golf, party, gives speeches & fundraisers for his 2012 campaign. Obama pretends he hasn’t been POTUS for the last 3 years. He’s unreal & out-of-touch.
Obama’s plan was black skin, liberal racism, and complete media buttkissing.
That’s pretty much it right there. After all, they’ve worked for every other issue he’s had in his life, so why not the Presidency? He was going to ascend, have liberals worshiping his every move, and have the media fawning over his every step.
Then reality intruded.
Hi Dan,
Well, I guess one difference is that a CEO can fire people who are sabotaging the vision of the CEO, for the company. Politics isn’t like running a business, since we don’t ordinarily shoot politicians. She owns her company. Obama doesn’t own the US government, and doesn’t employ the Congress. So, the metaphor breaks down, I think.
Cas : A good leader can lead in any environment, the playground, the military, city hall, the White House. The same skills apply. Leadership also involves knowing when to delegate, when to own it and which battles to pick. Obama has failed on all accounts.
Obama doesn’t own the US government, and doesn’t employ the Congress. So, the metaphor breaks down, I think.
Comment by Cas — August 8, 2011 @ 2:44 pm – August 8, 2011
Nope, sorry. Bush was held responsible by Obama supporters like yourself, Cas, for every single action taken by everyone in government at all times in his term.
Now, if you’re willing to state that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all other Obama Party members who did that during Bush’s presidency were wrong and in fact were lying for political advantage, then we can talk.
But since all you’re doing is spinning and making excuses for your unwillingness to hold Obama to the same standards you held Bush, you’re just a hypocrite at this point.
A forceful President of the United States can fire ANYONE in the Executive Branch, starting with the Sec.Treasury ,the Economic advisers and the heads of the “independent” agencies…heavily lean-on the Chairman of the Fed and the Reserve Bank presidents…and cut the leaders in the House and Senate of his own party off at-the-knees if necessary.
And threaten hell-fire and brimstone to rain-down on the executives and boards of S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch if they dared downgrade the US’s triple-A-rating. They’re the same guys who bungled the rating of the derivatives and securities that triggered the 2007-2008 financial mess in the first place. I doubt a one of them would want the Treasury Dept., Justice Dept., Homeland Security, FBI, SEC and both Houses of Congress’ investigating committees rummaging thru their trash, files, kids’ trust funds, or their underwear drawers.
And threaten hell-fire and brimstone to rain-down on the executives and boards of S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch if they dared downgrade the US’s triple-A-rating. They’re the same guys who bungled the rating of the derivatives and securities that triggered the 2007-2008 financial mess in the first place. I doubt a one of them would want the Treasury Dept., Justice Dept., Homeland Security, FBI, SEC and both Houses of Congress’ investigating committees rummaging thru their trash, files, kids’ trust funds, or their underwear drawers.
See, Ted, that’s where I disagree — mainly because I believe that the reason they were grading those securities the way they did in the first place was because of government pressure (namely, to keep Fannie and Freddie solvent).
Matter of fact, I think one of the best things that could be done for the sake of “transparency” would be to require the US government to follow a) GAAP, b) Sarbanes-Oxley, and c) actuarial standards that every other private insurance company has to follow.
Yes, I’m aware that the government can print money and control the currency, whereas private companies can’t. But that should be considered an additional bonus rather than a standard operating procedure. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security get away with actuarial assumptions that would have a private company shut down and its executives led away in chains. The CBO, as we’ve seen, uses math that is on the level of unicorn farts and would have SEC investigators dropping in on a private company with parachutes.
More to the point, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid would be like carp in the Mojave Desert if they weren’t in Obama Fantasy Accounting Land.
Ted,
Can Obama fire the opposition (i.e., Repubs) if they are all united against his agenda? I don’t think so. He can threaten and cajole, but as the debt limit talks showed, if the opposition remains firm, he has no power to move them, even if he thinks or argues that they are potentially doing bad things to the country. On the other hand, a CEO can fire his or her employees if the CEO thinks their actions are hurting the company. I think that is one place where the metaphor breaks down.