3. Obama is not ready for prime time
Obama not only was bereft of any serious experience before becoming president, but he lacks, as my gastroenterologist would say, the intestinal fortitude for the job.
He draws red lines, and then whimpers away. He makes tough statements without the means to back them up. He fails to even try to bend others to his will, unless they’re Israeli. He lacks the relish for mixing it up in the ring when he has to, the boyish pugilism that comes out when a great leader needs it. He’d rather play golf.
4. Last but not least, there’s this:
Hillary Clinton was a disastrous choice for Secretary of State, and a choice made for all the wrong reasons.
She had absolutely no qualifications for the job, no serious understanding of foreign policy, and nothing resembling a strategic vision. She’s Henry Kissinger, except without the Henry Kissinger. You don’t hear about an Obama Doctrine because there is none. There are no guiding principles to this president’s foreign policy, because there was no one around to think any up.
I believe that Hillary was chosen as Secretary of State because Obama’s political advisors told him to do it.
Hillary was Obama’s chief political rival among Democrats. The only presidents in the last 50 years who either lost their reelection race or figured they didn’t like their chances and decided not run – Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush – all had serious challengers from within their own Party.
Hillary had to be removed. And so he put her on political ice in the most effective way possible: by bringing her in at a very high level.
Also, he read a book that said Lincoln surrounded himself with his political rivals, and Obama wanted to be like Lincoln.
But a president needs a good Secretary of State. And Obama got one who failed to lodge a single noticeable foreign policy achievement during her four years on the job.
And so neither has he. And now, the lack of attention and competency is causing hundred of venus flytraps to bloom all over the world.
I would love to hear someone read this out loud on CNN or PMSNBC.