Experience was a conditional topic of debate during the last presidential campaign. Vice presidential and presidential candidates were pressed to produce evidence of the requisite experience necessary to lead our nation. All candidates except for one: Barack Obama.
With “thrills going up their legs” courtesy of Obama euphoria, the left-leaning media failed to seek from Obama the credentials demanded of other candidates. The media acted as if Obama came to the campaign with the experience necessary to assume the most challenging position on planet Earth.
But it was experience implied, never verified.
Barack Obama was the least experienced of all candidates. And with the United States locked in a life and death struggle with global terrorism, and facing the worst recession in decades, conditions cried for experience.
It was not a time for seat of the pants, learn on the fly, on-the-job training. Still, Obama never offered evidence of his fiscal prowess, that he balanced a budget, or ran a business. If Obama possessed national security bona fides, they were not revealed.
Criticism of Obama’s lack of experience was suppressed. Questions of “what has he done?” were dismissed. Persistence ran the risk of being called a racist.
Yet critics warned that it was a major leap from a benign junior senator to president, and a lack of big league experience would cause Obama to revert to what he knows: The socialist teachings of his mentor, Saul Alinsky. Greater government. Anti-business and anti-capitalism. Wealth redistribution.
After a year, the actions of the Obama administration have proved critics right.
Our president’s lack of experience has resulted in other side effects. There is no evidence Barack Obama confronted significant crisis in his professional life. He never experienced fighting through momentous adversity or faced the pressure of knowing the far-reaching impacts of his decisions. He hasn’t engaged in the negotiation and compromise necessary to adjudicate big picture issues. He’s never been hardened – and humbled – by the process.
Barack Obama lived in the political fast lane. He built his reputation on smooth talk, not action. It’s always been easy for Barack Obama. Too easy.
“Easy” robbed our president of the experiences necessary to lead a nation in crisis. So he grapples with what is novel to him: adversity. He has no foundation, no data base – no experience – to rely on. And it is the absence of confronting adversity, suffering and learning from it, that leads to our president’s frustration and invigorates his arrogance.
Our president’s arrogance is reflected in his “can’t you realize only I know what is best for you?” attitude. Arrogance is thinking the people reject his policies because we are not capable of comprehending them.
Our president’s arrogance is revealed as he stands in front of the citizenry, vows an approach, and then immediately acts differently, as if the people are too stupid to see the façade.
William J. Wilkins: Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service. One of numerous lobbyists President Obama nominated to his administration after pledging he would not appoint any lobbyists.
Claiming arrogance on the part of our president is not done lightly, so I will support my contention with examples:
- Our president vowed transparency. Instead, his administration often operates in deck-stacked, closed-door, party-only secrecy.
- Our president said bills would be posted on-line well in advance of a vote for all to read with debate aired on C-SPAN for all to see. Instead, votes are strong-armed through with dirty deals cut in the dead of night.
- Our president said he would keep unemployment at 8% as long as taxpayers gave him $787 billion to “stimulate” the economy. Instead, unemployment currently sits at 9.7% as the money funded pork, pet projects and friends of the administration.
- Our president said he would end the influence of special interests. Yet he is beholden, if not owned, by the unions.
- Our president said he would rid Washington of lobbyists. Instead, he is surrounded by them.
- Our president said he would never give Miranda rights to terrorists. Instead, he did that and more. Terrorists now have the same Constitutional rights as you and I.
Arrogance is rushing to condemn the police by saying they “acted stupidly” for arresting a friend without first checking the facts that led to the arrest.
Arrogance is telling the American people that during difficult times “You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage,” but then proposing a monstrosity of a federal budget filled with irresponsible spending that jeopardizes economic recovery and sustainability.
Arrogance is preaching to the people about fiscal responsibility while piling up debt for the unborn to pay.
Arrogance is attempting to embarrass the Supreme Court during a State of the Union address with factually false statements.
Arrogance is ignoring the priorities of a majority of Americans and stubbornly pressing forward with the socialist ideology of government-controlled health care and Cap and Trade.
Whether it is a manager, chief executive, or the U.S. President, it is a lack of experience that breeds frustration and arrogance. The difference is a manager’s haughtiness will only hurt a company. A president’s will hurt a nation.
President Obama addressing sixth graders in their classroom with the aid of teleprompters
Though I question whether our president has the experience to lead, I believe he wants to do what is right. The problem is he lacks the background to tackle complex and far-reaching matters. Forget how assured he looks reading from a teleprompter – he is in unchartered waters. He lacks the navigational background to return safely to port. So he becomes frustrated and then arrogant.
Our president’s nebulous promise of “Hope and Change” isn’t working. He has failed to measure up to his established standards. His policies have made a bad economy worse. A country that by historical standards should be in full recovery from recession continues to flounder, its growth stifled by suffocating big government policies.
But it is never the fault of our president. He arrogantly finds someone else to blame.
And why should anyone expect anything to change? Why should anyone think our president will look at presidents before him – Kennedy and Reagan – and how they defeated recession? What is to suggest our president will tune out his own ideology and listen to the American people?
Why should anyone expect anything to change when our president is too inexperienced to recognize his own arrogance?
Our president often talks about “teachable moments.” Yet it is our president that has so much to learn.
God Bless our troops in harm’s way.
Poz
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