Instead of just pointing to other articles, this is an original opinion piece I wrote about Obama’s leadership… something I think a lot of people will agree with. We’ll see.
There’s a difference between getting elected and assuming leadership and I’m still waiting for President Obama to assume leadership. Obama’s management style seems to be that he’s just another member of a team rather than the team captain. America is in a crisis and both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress are acting like a class full of unruly 10 year olds with a weak substitute teacher.
I am asking you Mr. President today to take charge. I am asking you to be a leader. I am asking you to assume your role as the decider. You are the chief executive and you are in charge. You are the leader but you have yet to assume leadership. A year ago we made you the most powerful man on the planet. We gave you the power and we expect you to use it. Instead you’re like a Jedi Knight who won’t use The Force. You’re like Superman in his role as Clark Kent. You’re like Charlie Brown who just tries to keep kicking the football just to have it jerked away by Congress at the last minute.
It is time, Mr. President, for you to take charge. It’s time to open up a can of whoop-ass and set Congress straight. It’s OK to be reasonable and rational in the way you make decisions but please, if you are passionate about something you can at least raise your voice and show it. Here in real America things are so bad that we are waking up in the middle of the night screaming. We want to hear you scream too. The role of President was given to you. We are still waiting for you to claim it. Be the leader!
Try to remember Obama was elected because it is about time, not to mention just so cool, to elect a blackish president. That’s it.
RBG
#33 Uh, RBG, you shouldn’t really put your racism out there so bluntly. You should take lessons from your fellow wingnuts who are more subtle about it.
So you believe millions of Americans voted for him just for the color of his skin. Had nothing to do with the previous Republican president who was a horrific disaster. Nothing to do with a senile doddering Republican candidate and his scary-ignorant Caribou Barbie running mate.
Nope, just about the skin color, eh?
Dang. Well, at least you’re honest about your racism. Can’t say the same about your fellow wingnuts who pretend not to be racists.
This is the kind of shit Obama has to deal with:
http://nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/coa_20100205_3373.php
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations on the Senate calendar in an effort to win concessions from the Obama administration and Pentagon on a variety of fronts affecting his home state, according to aides to Senate Majority Leader Reid.
Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle said Shelby is blocking more than 70 pending nominations. Reid can force a vote on any nomination by filing cloture.
One Republican senator is blocking over 70 nominations because he’s not getting enough pork in his state.
And here we have a demonstration of how gutless the Democrats are:
Reid, who kept the Senate in pro forma session over recent holidays to prevent former President George W. Bush from making recess appointments, said he has grown so frustrated he might advocate such appointments, which the president can make when the Senate is out of session.
“What alternatives do we have?” Reid said on the floor Thursday. “What alternative do we have?”
Whine, whine, whine. Here’s what you can do: grow some balls. Threaten Shelby that his state will be cut out of ALL federal pork for the duration of the Obama administration and all future Democratic administrations in the foreseeable future. Then make good on the threat. Make an example of him, strike fear in the hearts of anyone who might try the same shit.
The R’s got lots of stuff pushed thru the Senate with 50 votes plus the Vice President. The D’s couldn’t get anything done with a filibuster-proof majority.
There hasn’t been a Democratic president with balls since Lyndon Johnson.
I have said on multiple occasions that it takes a while (usually a year at least) for Senators to “get” being President. One of the significant differences is that Senators are all about compromise. Being chummy. Being President is different. The President’s real power is his ability to rally opinion. It requires initiative, leadership, vision and a capacity to convince people to follow. Obama may have those skills but he hasn’t shown them yet. Obama’s real mistake was trying to do something as controversial as healthcare in his first year.
The posts were much better than the article. So many different views.
If Al Franken said something similar then it comes under “great minds think alike”. It’s a relief that I’m not the only one who sees this.
“It is time, Mr. President, for you to take charge. It’s time to open up a can of whoop-ass and set Congress straight.”
Obama is owned by the very same special interests that own Congress. So methinks that hell will indeed freeze over before what you want actually happens.
Get a freaking clue, people. The system is OWNED, but not by you. “Representative democracy” in the US = how much money do you have to “contribute.”
Interesting take Marc. You’re not the only one confused about Obama’s leadership.
“President Barack Obama has left Democrats as confused as ever about how the White House plans to deliver a health care reform bill this year, after two weeks of inconsistent statements, negligible hands-on involvement and a sudden shift to a jobs-first message.
Democrats on Capitol Hill and beyond say they have no clear understanding of the White House strategy — or even whether there is one — and are growing impatient with Obama’s reluctance to guide them toward a legislative solution.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32619.html#ixzz0epJGvJZg
Oh, grow up! There is no Superman, just some actor in tights. And there is no “President Obama”, just some guy reading a teleprompter.
The last three who tried to actually be president:
JFK – Shot
Nixon – Framed, Resigned.
Reagan – Shot.
Don’t expect Obama to try.
It is really simple. The Senate placed Obama in the job. He does not mind letting them control things. The far left have always been crazy, but now they are unchecked by the president (no chance of veto), so they went for it.
The two parties see only each other as players on the field. But now there is a third, regular Americans, and they have risen up, taken charge, and opened up a can of whoop-ass.
What the people that supported Obama, but now are frustrated with him do not understand is that Democratic party is different now. They are now more left of liberals then Republicans are right of liberals.
Finally, if Obama does lead, American will not follow anyway. The people are the ones with “The Force” and will fix this mistake by voting him out of office.
Don’t blame Obama. Remember he is NOT in charge yet. Blame Bush, his Boss. Obama seems like a mad employee. How many CEO’s do you see using a teleprompters.
Thomas, how many Senators have actually been president, for you to make such claims about them?
By the way, contrary to your statements, the White House was heavily involved in health care negotiations. They signed off on the various bribes. Now they have zeroed out in the new budget funding for the Bart Stupak Jr scholarship program.
Obama is still the Community Organizer in chief. As for the Health Care bill, it will be passed if it has to be chopped up and fed to us a teaspoon at a time. This in leadership by ambush & stealth. Nothing to inspire confidence.
#28 …as far as the SCOTUS decision: all that does is put real Americans, the corporations, on an even footing with the unions.
GOP officials would never say that in public but astonishing GOP sheep would actually make a statement like that.
“Present”
#49 – You’re misinterpreting what I said. Corporations are only one faction. It used to be unions only, now it’s everyone.
#42
Nixon was “framed”?! I guess they also duped his voice on those tapes?! You take tin-foil hat to a new level.
#46
Kennedy and Truman are the best examples. However, there is also Harding, Buchanan, Pierce, Tyler, Quincy Adams. These are men whose primary experience before taking office was being a Congressman. Now, this assumes that being Vice-President provides experience at being President (which is not unreasonable). If we were to take that out of the mix, we could add Nixon and a number of others.
#52
BTW, I realize that Truman was Vice-President however his term only lasted less than 90 days and in that time he spent most of it throwing parties. So, for the purposes of experience, his only experience was that of a Senator. Nixon on the other hand was VP for eight years. The real question is whether the VP gains any real experience during their term and that depends greatly on their running mate. I would expect that they do but one could easily argue the contrary.
::sigh::
your black and white thinking in a world of infinite grays, has left your mind in the cold.
you my friend, need to lighten up
the symbol of the rising sun to which i was referring, goes back in history far, far beyond roots of communism. explore this world and you will learn the true nature and intention of those in power across the globe.
your request of me to “express” -to spell things out, betrays your frozen logic. -logic, something i [also] have lived my life by, is an easily fooled construct.
my research now leads me to understand that logic [in it’s current use-roughly 16c forward] was created to explain and enforce an illusion which was also “created” to keep us from discovering the true Reality and the awesome power of Mind.
-your logic is still frozen, as mine once was.
another way of saying it…you can have all the knowledge in the world, and yet still know nothing. the key is understanding
Once you learn that logic and “gray” thinking, can and do actually compliment each other, your mind opens to yet another world of possibilities. -which in the past, we were taught cannot or must not exist.
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Why?
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Symbols are the equivalent of “words” -used by the ancient cultures from which we spawn from. -cultures that did far more with apparently, far less than we could ever dream of in our current form. “A picture is worth a thousand words”
Unfreeze your logic.
If you are content with only knowing -you will never understand anything.
I wish only that people look beneath the surface of the foundation their thoughts and world is built upon. Like many recent archeological digs, they will discover *their foundations* were built on top of a whole other world. (of thought)
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-for you i say, “one mans gibberish is another man’s treasure” until you seek to understand, you will be doomed to know a whole “‘lot of nothing.” I was there, I now know this to be true. -the rest, is (as always) up to you.
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i will leave you with yet another and image of “modern” symbology to think about. -in the spirit of the quote I made from above: “a picture is worth a thousand words”. nothing is black and white below the surface.
-s
woops…#54 was a response to #19
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btw: Marc, Obama wasn’t invited to this meeting, but Bernanke most likely was..
me thinks you should re-address your prose to The FED..as it is quite obvious obama is not the one in control.
Given those invited, it looks like we will be left to lick our wounds (of failure) while the BRIC nations get a play at the game of “world economy” (kinda reminds me of the the old board game “RISK”)
“Secret summit of top bankers”
-s