We learned almost nothing about our new president during the campaign or from his work in the senate. We knew he was a great communicator and always stayed cool under any circumstances. These are traits that serve leaders well. However, there are other attributes equally important.
Good decision making is tops. Ex-president Bush had neither communication skills, nor good decision making skills. Hard to overcome that. This early, I question President Obama’s decision making skills. He is too impatient to sift through the data that one needs to examine to make sound decisions. If you make bad decisions, and you are the best communicator we have seen in my lifetime, it still won’t work. We will all pay a huge price for costly cram down programs made in haste. Defending bad decisions with great communications wears thin.
But, the number one attribute is trust. This is why congress is rated so low by a large majority of Americans. We don’t trust them. Obama is doing big damage to his trust quotient by not telling us the truth. Splitting hairs between earmarks and pork does not engender trust. The stimulus package is full of pork. President Obama uses obfuscation to deny that. He says he is tired of hearing the bill is full of pork. He defends this by saying there is not one earmark in the bill. Please, President Obama don’t risk your trust, trust that is so important to your relationship with all of us, by playing the political game. Hiding universal health care regulations in the bill is duplicitous. It follows the strategy Tom Daschle put in his book. He recommend just that. Slip Universal Health Care into a spending bill. Universal Health care and any rules and regulations should be part of a universal health care bill, not tucked away in this mess you call a stimulus package. Pulling the census into the domain of the White House to have Emmanuel rig it to keep democrats in power is not something that will cause us to trust you.
Using a crisis to sell a $4 trillion deficit to foster issues democrats have wanted for years is not above board. Criticizing Bush for using a crisis for TARP, while using the same tactics to add another $3 trillion in spending for increasing the size of government spending and control is not cricket.
If you lose trust and faith in your good judgment ,your oratory skills will just be hollow noise. You can’t talk yourself out of the potential problems you are creating all too fast. Especially when that rhetoric seems like an echo of cliches from campaign speeches. You delivery is great, the content is getting repetitive.
You rammed Tim Geitner through despite his tax problems. His debut was met with a dismal response from the market. He spoke and the market spoke back. As good as your speaking skills are, Geitner’s are terrible. Did you vett him in front of a camera? His delivery was shockingly poor. You built this up in your press conference. You put your stamp on his plan. Your decision making ability is part and parcel of the market response. Then we see no plan, just a price tag. How do you come up with a price tag without a plan? Delegating a decision like this with the magnitude and implications for this country is not prudent.
It’s early, but already there is concern. Gather up your tarnished integrity and slow down and give long serious thought to the crap you get from congress and your cabinet before you endorse crap. Don’t try to gloss over pork by calling it something else. Get the rest of leadership right and then use your exceptional speaking skills to sell good ideas that are well thought out. Don’t try to snow the public, many of us see though it. Regain trust. Without it, you will fail and the country will pay the price.
I think you are failing to remember that only 3 short months ago, a majority of Americans trusted Obama with their votes. Many of those people are as focused on the debate surrounding the stimulus package as they were during the runup to the election. I would suggest that this majority still trusts President Obama.
I wouldn’t have expected you to be a part of the instant expectations crowd (saying "fire the manager" only weeks into the season) . Speaking as one who voted for him, I do not expect that every single decision will be perfect. That is an unrealistic expectation. And let’s be real; he’s only been in office for a couple of weeks.
I do agree with one thing you said above…. It’s early.
I offered him advice. I’m stuck with him thanks to you and others who bought the change and hope. As someone who is trying to be objective, I believe he lied about the change or at least didn’t present it as galloping socialism. He also talked about bringing others on board. "I won" isn’t the best way to do that. Why don’t you try being speciifc. Did he or did he not mislead us about the pork?Is he or is he not putting health care in a spending bill? Did he or did he not say he is moving census to the White House? Do you really think Geitner asking for trillions without a plan is smart? Do you think Geitner was an adaquate speaker?
Chris, I’m being specific. You respond in broad terms. Try specific. It’s something Obama will not do either.
Bill
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