President Obama sees only his Sent folder, not his Inbox. At least that's the way it seems.
He may pay attention to more than what he himself says, but does it seem that way?
Otherwise he'd change course. Of course he can't change course.
The Unions, Wall Street and other unholy actors can't conceive of it - neither can the President.
It's wrong to assail Barack Obama for being a tool of the populist Left. He's a tool all right, but of his own doing, his own belief, his own certitudes. He can't change. Can't.
Strongly inclined towards Centralized Control, he sees vouchers as poison and food stamps as a positive indicator of what government can do. He need look no further. cCon is his worldview.
He keeps telling us this, again and again, energetically overloading his Sent folder.
Items in his Inbox suggest that Distributed Control is the way to go. His vision just can't see that far.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Saturday, September 07, 2013
#ObamaOverUnder
I, I, I, I, I say now... the President will refer to himself at least five times in his Syria speech on Tuesday, making the #ObamaOverUnder a lofty 5. Why so many? Past is prologue.
Barack Obama revealed a serious leadership deficiency less than year into his exalted first term. He can't sell. Soaring oratory aside, million dollar grin notwithstanding, he went to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago as an Olympic City and lost. Badly. He and the First Lady weren't even home to Washington when word came that Chicago was cut in the first round.
I, I, I and I were the most pronounced pronouns he used in that pitch. The crux of his argument was him. However, successful salesmen don't use I. They use You. More than a semantic subtlety, the second person personal pronoun focuses on those who need persuading. Their needs, their wants, their issues become central to the pitch.
With Joe Biden constantly licking his shoes, and Valerie Jarrett apparently encouraging his retrograde impulses, President Obama still spews I's to this day, almost three quarters of the way through his Presidency.
The President's inability to sell overlaps with his inability to strategize in the present Syrian situation, as evidenced by the parade of strategic stink bombs he's let slip: Red Lines and Presidents Don't Bluff and Shots Across the Bow among them.
Let's see, what might suggest a strategy? Hmm, don't make loose threats for starters. Don't announce when you're going to strike, and don't downplay it as you're announcing it. Don't surprise and undercut your staff and allies. Oh yeah, don't try to get out of owning the ultimatum. "The World's Red Line" says the buck stops somewhere else. "Congress is like the dog that caught the car" is petty at best, self-defeating at worst.
One thing certain at this point is that 100,000 Syrians are dead, thousands of them children. Little children are dead. Dead little children! Thousands of them! Hundreds from poison gas, an especially horrible way to go. Of course, the gas more than certainly enough was unleashed by Assad's government forces - the bastard, the unholy bastard.
Another thing certain at this point is that America has taken on water. Reputations take a long time to build, are especially powerful in the early stages of conflicts, and can be squandered awfully quickly. America's reputation as the last best hope of mankind ain't what it was pre-Syria, that's for damn sure.
President Obama has a 6% chance of turning this around, given the following.
Assume a 50% chance of success for each of those linked propositions. 50% x 50% x 50% x 50% = 6%. Your estimates may vary.
I hope he nails it. The United States of America, the Syrian people and the entire Free World pretty much needs him to succeed. Notwithstanding his manifold Presidential deficiencies, he's our President and we need to back him. And then hold him accountable for the results, which ever way the ball bounces.
He can make a strong start by avoiding excessive I's on Tuesday night. What are the odds?
Barack Obama revealed a serious leadership deficiency less than year into his exalted first term. He can't sell. Soaring oratory aside, million dollar grin notwithstanding, he went to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago as an Olympic City and lost. Badly. He and the First Lady weren't even home to Washington when word came that Chicago was cut in the first round.
I, I, I and I were the most pronounced pronouns he used in that pitch. The crux of his argument was him. However, successful salesmen don't use I. They use You. More than a semantic subtlety, the second person personal pronoun focuses on those who need persuading. Their needs, their wants, their issues become central to the pitch.
With Joe Biden constantly licking his shoes, and Valerie Jarrett apparently encouraging his retrograde impulses, President Obama still spews I's to this day, almost three quarters of the way through his Presidency.
The President's inability to sell overlaps with his inability to strategize in the present Syrian situation, as evidenced by the parade of strategic stink bombs he's let slip: Red Lines and Presidents Don't Bluff and Shots Across the Bow among them.
Let's see, what might suggest a strategy? Hmm, don't make loose threats for starters. Don't announce when you're going to strike, and don't downplay it as you're announcing it. Don't surprise and undercut your staff and allies. Oh yeah, don't try to get out of owning the ultimatum. "The World's Red Line" says the buck stops somewhere else. "Congress is like the dog that caught the car" is petty at best, self-defeating at worst.
One thing certain at this point is that 100,000 Syrians are dead, thousands of them children. Little children are dead. Dead little children! Thousands of them! Hundreds from poison gas, an especially horrible way to go. Of course, the gas more than certainly enough was unleashed by Assad's government forces - the bastard, the unholy bastard.
Another thing certain at this point is that America has taken on water. Reputations take a long time to build, are especially powerful in the early stages of conflicts, and can be squandered awfully quickly. America's reputation as the last best hope of mankind ain't what it was pre-Syria, that's for damn sure.
President Obama has a 6% chance of turning this around, given the following.
- He has to get both houses of Congress to back his play, whatever it turns out to be.
- The Navy, Air Force and others arms of American power must execute very well, without a single casualty.
- The course of the Syrian Civil War must turn towards the Free Syrians.
- Finally, the Free Syrians must outmaneuver the Islamists.
Assume a 50% chance of success for each of those linked propositions. 50% x 50% x 50% x 50% = 6%. Your estimates may vary.
I hope he nails it. The United States of America, the Syrian people and the entire Free World pretty much needs him to succeed. Notwithstanding his manifold Presidential deficiencies, he's our President and we need to back him. And then hold him accountable for the results, which ever way the ball bounces.
He can make a strong start by avoiding excessive I's on Tuesday night. What are the odds?
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