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The Not Ready for Prime Time President
American Thinker ^ | 9-3-09 | Bruce Walker

Posted on 09/03/2009 3:02:32 AM PDT by kingattax

Pundits, including perceptive conservative opponents like Charles Krauthammer, have noted the consummate political skill of Barack Obama. There is not much doubt that Obama was able to wage a very effective campaign for the Democrat nomination and then for the presidency in the general election.

Bill Clinton was a masterful campaigner too (I had the opportunity to watch some of that first hand.) Ronald Reagan, because in part of his long career in Hollywood, could give "The Speech" a thousand times and each time it was electrifying. The word "charisma" entered our popular political language to describe John Kennedy, whose beautiful wife and boyish good looks created the myth of Camelot. Franklin Roosevelt had the same gift for making people feeling comfortable and winning elections.

But there is a huge difference between Obama, on the one hand, those other presidents on the other hand - and the difference transcends ideology. FDR, Clinton, and Obama had the same Leftist agenda. JFK was what today would be called a moderate, and the Gipper, of course, was overtly conservative. But JFK, FDR, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton had the ability to govern once they had won their elections.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 09/03/2009 3:02:32 AM PDT by kingattax
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To: kingattax

2 posted on 09/03/2009 3:06:07 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (http://www.conservatives4palin.com/)
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To: kingattax
Here's the real reason they will implode, they are bad and mean.

The sign of the times:

Here are the "Love Birds" showing off at Teddy's service. They have absolutely no shame.

Here is one of the Pelousy Twins:

Here is the other one:

Here's the principal alternative and future POTUS, I hope.


3 posted on 09/03/2009 3:10:05 AM PDT by jws3sticks (Sarah Palin forever!)
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To: kingattax

Clinton was a much better liar without a teleprompter than Obammy is with one.

Clinton was as a liar what Babe Ruth was as a batter.


4 posted on 09/03/2009 3:27:52 AM PDT by Steely Tom
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To: kingattax

Good article! The strange thing about Obama is that he didn’t even have much charism and is not a good public speaker; he stumbles, blurts, and cannot speak extemporaneously, and he reads speeches in a wooden, jerky way, like a child just learning to read.

Where did the perception that he was either charismatic or a good speaker come from? The media.

Why does he appeal to the media so? Basically, because he reflects their values or lack thereof, because they are all sentimental leftists at heart and they convinced themselves that he was, too, and because they thought, since he was young and presented as being black, that he’d be good copy. He was obviously set up for this role by people behind him, but once he caught on with the media, they did all the advertising work necessary, for free and with great gusto.

Media types love to lionize people. I think if you looked at other recent celebs, ranging from Princess Di to Michael Jackson, you’d find that the secret of their celebrity was the breathless, reverential press coverage they got. All of Michael Jackson’s crimes and bizarre behavior disappeared magically; all of air-headed Princess Di’s rather scandalous personal life somehow was airbrushed out. They created these people, and they created Obama, insofar as his electability went, by ignoring his past, ignoring his associates, even ignoring his very words, because they never let reality interfere with their creation of a celebrity.

The sad thing was that Obama, who is a very immature and disturbed personality, believed that he was home free and that he wouldn’t actually have to do anything except breathe in and out and show himself on TV to the adoring masses from time to time.

Of course, the job of being president actually requires that you know something and do something, so that’s why he’s fumbling it so badly. He never realized this. He really thought he’d just sail in and simply continue to get his whims catered to and indulged.

However, I think this will not end as harmlessly as Princess Di and Michael Jackson. I think Obama and the people whose figurehead he is actually had no intention of his simply being a president and having a presidential administration like any other. Essentially, he doesn’t have to know anything about the job or the US, because he doesn’t plan to let it continue to exist as it has and he doesn’t care in the least about our institutions, policies or anything else that came before him. He and his sponsors are just annoyed that his ineptitude is making the process take a little longer than they expected. I know it’s only been a little over 6 months, but most coups are much faster than that.


5 posted on 09/03/2009 3:33:39 AM PDT by livius
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To: kingattax

As I have been saying for months, in 2012 Sarah Palin will continue to have more relevant executive experience than Barak Obama.


6 posted on 09/03/2009 3:44:44 AM PDT by jimfree (Freep and ye shall find!)
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To: livius

“President Obama seemingly has no clue about what he is doing, and, increasingly, it shows.”

good point


7 posted on 09/03/2009 3:46:22 AM PDT by nikos1121 (Is it a coincidence that Obama's vacation of relaxation and meditation coincides with Ramadan?)
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To: nikos1121

President in a bubble fits him. He thought that as in all of his life heretofore, nobody would challenge him or debate him or say he was woefully ignorant and wrong.

Nobody has. It owuld have been called racist and stupid and he never exposed himself to people who would.

He is not psychologically or politically an AMerican, he has not idea of what the people are other than his ones in his bubble.

He must be i shcok at all the opposition and the dwindling support. A rude rude awakening.


8 posted on 09/03/2009 3:54:53 AM PDT by cajungirl (no)
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To: kingattax

Given all the ‘present’ votes in the Illinois legislature it is clear that O wasn’t ready to be a US Senator.

That the elites decided he was the perfect tool to promote their America hating agenda doesn’t make his presidency legitimate.


9 posted on 09/03/2009 3:57:42 AM PDT by Carley (WHEN YOU HONOR THE DISHONORABLE YOU SHOW YOUR OWN TRUE COLORS)
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To: cajungirl

I feel like I’m talking to myself...that sounds like exactly what I would say....

All of us, saw through this guy, we only thought we could whip up some energy into a tired old dog like McCain, until we realized the guy was having NOTHING to do with conservative principles.

I think Palin is poising herself for what is becoming increasingly clear. This administration cannot govern. How can it get by the next three years?

If the polls show him again minus 11 or worse, then I think it’s done. Oh, sure, he’ll throw in a man made crisis...and the more he talks to our young people...and then again to the adults the more repulsed and the more we realize that this guy is a phony in the greatest proportions.

I have no idea who this man is. What he stands for. I know not from where he came, and who funded him.

I only know this. Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Boxer etc... do NOT represent me and the people Ilive and work with. THey ar alien to me. Iam sure that they care more about reelection than doing anything to help this country of ours..

Term limits would solve this...but that won’t happen.


10 posted on 09/03/2009 4:01:18 AM PDT by nikos1121 (Is it a coincidence that Obama's vacation of relaxation and meditation coincides with Ramadan?)
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To: kingattax
Obama's actions since taking office simply don't match what people read into his opaque, vague words while he was campaigning. This has created distrust, and the distrust is beginning to morph into a feeling of being duped.

Americans have become accustomed to seeing their politicians live by the polls, and most of us are watching in amazement as this President seems to give the polls no heed whatsoever. Clinton backed off health care the minute he saw it might keep him from serving a second term, a propensity the far left saw as his biggest weakness.

Meanwhile, Obama has already said he doesn't care about a second term, perhaps the only thing he's said that's not belied by his actions.

People are afraid of this guy, and the fear is growing. The only question is how much damage will he be able to inflict before we vote him and his party out of power?

11 posted on 09/03/2009 4:09:13 AM PDT by wayoverontheright
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To: wayoverontheright

Remember the movie “The Candidate”? Robert Redford wins and at the end says:

“What do I do now?”

I feel like I’m watching the movie only this time it’s real. Which makes it scary.


12 posted on 09/03/2009 4:31:28 AM PDT by Not gonna take it anymore
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To: nikos1121
Obama was nothing short of masterful on the campaign trail. The problem is now that he's elected he has to govern instead of campaign and this is where the problem starts. He is in a continual campaign mode which people are beginning to tire of. Citizens see their financial situations deteriorating, government debt exploding, unemployment through the roof, foreclosures galore, ill conceived programs concerning health care and energy, and all you hear out of Zero is that it's “Bush's fault.” It's starting to become abundantly clear to a lot of people that Obama OWNS this recession and that the policies put forth by himself and his rat minions are driving us further into insolvency on both financial and cultural levels. No amount of cheerleading is going to change our situation. Nor will the standard rat answer of raising taxes and spending more money, or for that matter telling elementary school children not to flush the toilet after urinating. People are looking to the White House for direction and all they are getting is confusion, recalcitrance and incompetence. In the end Obama will be viewed for what he really is, that being an ill suited community organizer who is both a megalomaniac and a narcissist who is hell bent on transforming our capitalist system of governance by destroying it in the process if need be.
13 posted on 09/03/2009 4:36:46 AM PDT by RU88 (Bow to no man)
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To: livius
I couldn't agree more with everything you said............... especially the “disturbed" point!
14 posted on 09/03/2009 4:38:05 AM PDT by Old Badger (boy do opportunities abound everywhere for Real Conservatives!)
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To: livius
Why does he appeal to the media so? Basically, because he reflects their values or lack thereof, because they are all sentimental leftists at heart and they convinced themselves that he was, too, and because they thought, since he was young and presented as being black, that he’d be good copy. He was obviously set up for this role by people behind him, but once he caught on with the media, they did all the advertising work necessary, for free and with great gusto.

And they continue to do it, per this from  Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown at Politico:

Obama, perhaps the most gifted explainer of anyone to occupy the Oval office since Reagan or Roosevelt, has been frustrated by his inability to punch through the GOP’s anti-reform clamor.

But he has a long history of regaining his stride in one bold rhetorical vault – from the huge campaign rallies that helped him defeat frontrunner Hillary Clinton, to his famous Philadelphia speech on race, to his rousing joint-session address in the dark economic days following the inauguration.


15 posted on 09/03/2009 4:43:46 AM PDT by browardchad
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

Good article and filled with truth. How long can the media prop this fellow up until it starts to look foolish? We can but hope he is forced to back peddle once his party is out of total power. We must vow to retake Congress in 2010 and the White House in 2012.


16 posted on 09/03/2009 4:50:53 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: kingattax

excellent bit..


17 posted on 09/03/2009 5:28:24 AM PDT by The Wizard (Democrat Party: a criminal enterprise)
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To: browardchad

Good grief. When I read things like this, I always wonder if we (the media and I) are listening to the same person. I’ve been puzzled by the “gifted explainer” stuff since day one, because he simply isn’t a good speaker on any level, not even the most basic Teleprompter reading.

But as you say, if they keep repeating this lie, people come to accept it as a given, and all discussions of Obama are thereafter done in the framework of his media-imagined “brilliance.”

Did you read the bizarre account of David Brooks, where he was mesmerized by the crease in Obama’s pants and thought that this somehow showed that Obama he was going to be a “great president”...these people are delusional!


18 posted on 09/03/2009 5:33:22 AM PDT by livius
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To: Not gonna take it anymore
Remember the movie “The Candidate”? Robert Redford wins and at the end says:

“What do I do now?”

As opposed to the Jack Ryan character in Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor, who, when thrust unwillingly into the presidency by an individual act of terror says "Let's get to work".

19 posted on 09/03/2009 6:07:40 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., hot enough down there today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: RU88
It's starting to become abundantly clear to a lot of people that Obama OWNS this recession and that the policies put forth by himself and his rat minions are driving us further into insolvency on both financial and cultural levels.

Deafening silence in the media about the stubborn fact that the decline started shortly after the RAT congressional victories in '06.

20 posted on 09/03/2009 6:11:11 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., hot enough down there today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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