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Obama’s leadership failure
Flopping Aces ^ | Decewmber 31, 2012 | Robert J. Samuelson WaPo op-ed:

Posted on 12/31/2012 9:36:34 PM PST by Kaslin

The “fiscal cliff” is a massive failure of presidential leadership. The tedious and technical negotiations are but a subplot in a larger drama. Government can no longer fulfill all the promises it has made to various constituencies. Some promises will be reduced or disavowed. Which ones? Why? Only the president can pose these questions in a way that starts a national conversation over the choices to be made, but doing so requires the president to tell people things they don’t want to hear. That’s his job: to help Americans face unavoidable, if unpleasant, realities. Barack Obama has refused to play this role.

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: 112th; bho44; fiscalcliff; miserablefailure

1 posted on 12/31/2012 9:36:35 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Barry is a leader in the sense of leading America down the toilet- almost like an internal coup. It seems to have been the plan all along.....and he has been successful in “fundamentally changing” America.


2 posted on 12/31/2012 9:51:25 PM PST by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.......)
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To: Kaslin

>> That’s his job: to help Americans face unavoidable, if unpleasant, realities. Barack Obama has refused to play this role.

The punk has contempt for the Liberty the Country has enjoyed. His role refusal is not a matter of negligence nor irresponsibility — it’s a premeditated attack.


3 posted on 12/31/2012 9:57:25 PM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: Kaslin; All

President Obama is foolish a arrogant enough to think that because he “won” the election, that he has a clear mandate. The election did not give him one.

Also, if he is going to remotely have any chance of having a “successful” second term, he is going to have to learn to be the one that compromises. He is not a king. Members of Congress do not answer to him, but to the voters in their districts and states.

One commentator, I forget which, really described the situation in a way to be understandable. What he wrote is that there is no “middle” anymore. Most of the the Democrats elected come from “safe” democrat districts. Meaning they don’t have to worry about a general election, they have to worry about a primary. If they don’t vote left wing, they get beat in the primary. The same is also true of the Republican party...especially those that are “fiscal” Tea Party conservatives. If they don’t hold down taxes and spending, then they will lose in a primary. So, both left and right must answer to their bases. They cannot compromise. Whether this is good or bad, I don’t know...but it is the reality of the now. There aren’t many left in the “middle” anymore.

For Mr. Obama to get anything done, he must keep both ends happy or at least placated. So, nobody...especially Mr. Obama...is going to get exactly their own way.


4 posted on 12/31/2012 10:05:15 PM PST by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: Kaslin

Obama’s leadership is pretty impressive if you’re a Marxist-socialist.


5 posted on 12/31/2012 10:14:11 PM PST by TADSLOS (I took extra credit at the School of Hard Knocks)
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To: Kaslin

Bath-House was NEVER supposed to be a “leader”; merely a figurehead for the idiot masses.

We have an Iranian in charge—Iranian of the Day, Valerie Jarrett.


6 posted on 12/31/2012 10:25:58 PM PST by Mortrey (Impeach President Soros)
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To: Kaslin
All Zer0 has to rely on is Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. There is no leadership necessary for Marxism to reign.
7 posted on 12/31/2012 10:41:46 PM PST by jonrick46 (The opium of Communists: other people's money.)
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To: SERKIT

b soetoro has never uttered a truth since the day he learned to talk. Anyone think he would start now?


8 posted on 12/31/2012 10:55:04 PM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: SERKIT

“Barry is a leader in the sense of leading America down the toilet- almost like an internal coup. It seems to have been the plan all along.....and he has been successful in “fundamentally changing” America.”

“It’s all about fairness” His favorite phrase. Anyone who believes life is fair, or should be fair is a fool and didn’t have proper raising or teaching. These people are easily deceived, easily lead and stupid.


9 posted on 12/31/2012 11:07:55 PM PST by Figment
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To: Kaslin

Look, it is this simple with Obama. His “professional” training and work was as a community organizer. His job was entirely bound up in pitting one group against another in order to enable one group, his group, to win and the other group to lose. In other words, the game he learned to play is a zero-sum game. He has taken that mindset into politics on the state level, the federal level, and now into the White House. He is not a uniter, and never will be. He is a divider, and thinks that in dividing he is doing right.

There is no other way to understand his actions as president, his attitude toward the opposition after his election, and his ultimate goal. He is out to give his side the win no matter what. So, naturally, the only way he can view the people of the other side is as something less than honorable, less than decent, perhaps even less than human. He is not a compromiser. He is on a quest, seeking his narrow minded, beatific vision of the holy grail and that which its acquisition make possible. Add to that his innate narcissism, and you have a person capable of visiting great harm on his political enemies with no remorse whatever. The people of the other side, in his view, were put on earth to be humiliated and made subservient. He has, as so many such leaders before him, become the very thing he has learned to hate ... and doesn’t see it, cannot see it.

It will be a long four years.


10 posted on 12/31/2012 11:54:23 PM PST by Belteshazzar (We are not justified by our works but by faith - De Jacob et vita beata 2 +Ambrose of Milan)
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To: Belteshazzar
You nailed it!

Good post.

11 posted on 01/01/2013 1:40:28 AM PST by DBeers (†)
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To: Sola Veritas
What he wrote is that there is no “middle” anymore. Most of the the Democrats elected come from “safe” democrat districts. Meaning they don’t have to worry about a general election, they have to worry about a primary. If they don’t vote left wing, they get beat in the primary. The same is also true of the Republican party...especially those that are “fiscal” Tea Party conservatives.

That's somewhat true on the D side, but not the R side. The R's generally own the states and the redistricting and have made an art form out of "safe" D districts. Not just safe, but 90% liberal and/or black. The flip side is that a lot of R districts are not very safe. There are certainly a lot of safe ones, but there are even more than are very safe for RINOs.

12 posted on 01/01/2013 1:53:23 AM PST by palmer (Obama = Carter + affirmative action)
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To: Kaslin

The author seems to assume Obama’s goal is a strong, prosperous USA. I don’t share that assumption.


13 posted on 01/01/2013 3:11:22 AM PST by Hugin ("Most times a man'll tell you his bad intentions, if you listen and let yourself hear."---Open Range)
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To: Sola Veritas
So, nobody...especially Mr. Obama...is going to get exactly their own way.

With all due respect, I don't think you know nobama very well.

He's already getting exactly what he wants. The current Republican cave on the "over the cliff" negotiations is a perfect example. nobama campaigned on taxing the rich more. Guess who's gonna be taxed more? nobama campaigned on further extending the 99 weeks of unearned unemployment cash giveaways (better known as "The New Welfare).

He's not getting exactly what he wants? Bullhockey.

He's arrogant.
He's narcissistic.
He's a Maxist.
He's a social psychopath.

He is truly evil and everything this country does not need.

14 posted on 01/01/2013 5:05:50 AM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: Belteshazzar
Obama will use the next four years to build upon the necessary elements of class warfare, attempting to destroy the Republican Party and the conservative base. He will tax working people until they cry. He will continue to keep the fire hose of debt on full blast to destroy America financially.

Once the economy and dollar collapse, he will stir up his base to physically attack people of success, taking what is rightfully theirs. His end game is violence - which is why he wants to start taking our guns now. End game is Bolshevik revolution in Amerika comrades - prepare!

15 posted on 01/01/2013 6:21:17 AM PST by broken_arrow1 (I regret that I have but one life to give for my country - Nathan Hale "Patriot")
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