President Obama was not my first, second or third choice to be president but he ended up the choice of many in my party. What choice did I have then, McCain/Palin was just too hard to even wrap my head around to consider. I decided to reserve all judgement until I watched him in action. Well, I have watched long enough and I have come to the conclusion that he does not have what it takes to be President at this moment in time.
Politics is a game, it is so convoluted a game that experience and knowledge of the game is one of the most important things when playing the game. It is not chess, it is the Japanese game of GO. Anyone who has heard of GO or played it would know what I mean.
There are many points to play on the board, each move adds more to the game and it gets very congested and more convoluted as the game goes on. You have to keep your brain sharp and your eyes all over the board.
His first mistake was thinking he had the political cache to get health care passed very early in his presidency. While it was a bold and decisive move, it was his Waterloo moment. It was the major reason the mid terms went against him in my opinion.
His second bad move was letting Nancy Pelosi look like she spoke for all the party and the White House, he let her become the voice instead of him being the voice. Bad move and a wrong political choice. Perhaps he thought she would make a good poltical shield, perhaps he thought she would do some good by taking the heat off of the White House. Who knows, but he let her become the public face of the party and it did not help one bit.
His third bad move was letting the birther nonsense go on and not stepping up and speaking to the whole country about it at once. He could have used the bully pulpit in a way that got the messages out all at once instead of piece meal. While he used legal procedures to tamp down the idiocy, he did not take up the challenge quick enough or loud enough to drown out the manipulation of the stories. A fire side chat with all of us seemed in order and he dropped the ball on that time and time again.
His fourth bad move was that he did not speak loud enough why he was continuing the bail outs of banks and corporations. He lost the message that it started before he took office and many short memoried Americans and political manipulators won that battle very quickly. It became his bail out not the preceding administrations bail out. Another example how he lost the attention of us all.
He also relied too much on other people in the White House to carry the water too many times. That looked like he was delegating his strength and the White House power to lesser folks. Sorry, but I didn't vote for White House Spokesperson, I voted for a leader who does step up to every challenge with a strong and clear voice. delegating the messages is not a smart political move.
Also, we have a VP, he can do a lot more work in the public eye than he has been doing. It seems like he is hidden away for other reasons. Yeah, Joe can say some hare-brained things but that would have taken some heat off the President. The VP position is a political tool, use it or lose it.
Of course I cannot blame him for everything that went wrong. He walked into a job that gets very little respect anymore from many of us, he had an economy that was in shambles from a lack of fore sight, laziness and party politics that helped create this mess. He had two wars to deal with, he had many countries to watch and evaluate who was a real friend and who was the hidden enemy. he walked into a real mess. We cannot blame him for what was already done (of course that doesn't stop some from trying to make that true).
He is still our President so I will continue to hope that he gains more skill at the job. I want him to stop talking at the GOP and start talking to us. No, not little question and answers games with the media, no, not staying on message with the journalists and news outlets. I want this leader to step up and talk to the American public everytime he needs to get his message out. I want him to understand that a news blurb a day will not suffice
A president has a ton of stuff on their plate, each day millions of bits of information are added to the game. If the other side is adding many pieces to the game and he is just reacting he will lose time and time again. The political game is not just about defense and surviving. The game is about long term offense, taking the other side to the mat and holding on tight.
Compromise is good but continued compromise looks weak and ineffective in the long run.
Mr. President, step up your game for all of us. It is not just about the next election, it is about the lives of every American. heed my advice or lose my vote. it is as simple as that. If you lose more of us you have no pieces to use in the game. Get IT?
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