Let me start by confessing President
Obama’s leadership approach makes me ill.
It’s my judgment that his “leadership” has made our nation and the entire
world a more dangerous and unstable place.
His racism, partisanship and class-envy agenda has stoked the fires of
dissension, rebellion and anarchy. These
wild fires are now out-of-control and might well be beyond the ability of man or
government to contain.
Doing a little
introspection (like checking for lumps), I realized my mindset has gone well
beyond the mere fact that I believe Obama and his cronies are destroying our
country and destabilizing the world-order for future generations – it has
become a medical disorder. Recalling the
syndrome that plagued so many liberals when Bush and Cheney were in office, I began
a little internet medical research to see if I was suffering from something comparable.
Using the search term “Bush Derangement Syndrome”, I quickly learned that BDS was discovered by my second
favorite Jew, Dr. Charles Krauthammer (Jesus of Nazareth being my favorite). The definition of BDS according to the good
doctor: “the acute onset of paranoia
in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay
-- the very existence of George W. Bush.”
Those most at risk for the dreaded BDS -- Doctor Krauthammer said that
it, “generally struck people with previously compromised intellectual immune
systems.”
Through the power of the
internet (and Al Gore’s ingenuity), I was able to uncover my malady – Obama Derangement
Syndrome ODS. There is great comfort in
knowing one’s disability has a name. In
a clear-cut case of copy-cat medicine, Dr. Christopher Zimmermann has gone so
far as to develop six-stages for the disease. (I’m a four on my good days.) Here’s an abbreviated list of symptoms:
Stage One. Subtle,
low level criticisms of Obama's "leadership" abilities.
Stage Two. Attacks on
the President begin to take on a nonsensical element such as criticism of Obama
playing golf, taking a vacation with his family, or eating mustard on his
hamburger. (Zimmerman makes no allowance
for golf outings immediately after announcing American beheadings.)
Stage Three. Unable
to call the President by his name, using incendiary monikers such as Barry,
Obummer, Zero, etc.
Stage Four. Use of phrases
like, "Anyone but Obama." The
diseased begin to take any position, so long as it is not Obama's position. Mocking ideas like "hope" and
"change" as naive, simply because Obama embodies them.
Stage Five. Assaults on the President's character begin to imply he is evil at his core. The development of conspiracies that suggest Obama is knowingly executing an agenda that will harm America are commonplace. Questions like, "Is Obama A Bigger Threat Than Al Qaeda?" and "Obama: A Radical Leftist Who Seeks To Dismantle Capitalism?" are common place.
Stage Six. People who are offended by Barack Obama's very existence.
Stage Five. Assaults on the President's character begin to imply he is evil at his core. The development of conspiracies that suggest Obama is knowingly executing an agenda that will harm America are commonplace. Questions like, "Is Obama A Bigger Threat Than Al Qaeda?" and "Obama: A Radical Leftist Who Seeks To Dismantle Capitalism?" are common place.
Stage Six. People who are offended by Barack Obama's very existence.
Now where were we? Oh yea, discussing leadership.
Like it or not, a
superpower cannot abdicate its responsibility to lead, anymore than the father
of a family can without bad things happening.
The mantle of global leadership, like paternal leadership, is incumbent
with the position. The oxymoronic (maybe
just moronic) “leading from behind” is not leadership – it is dereliction of
duty. One only need look to our inner
cities to see the consequences of absentee fathers. Observe the Middle East to see what
dereliction and our “Peace through withdrawal” strategy has wrought. President Obama’s Nobel Peace prize, awarded
in anticipation of the peace to come, may well have to be revoked for the
mayhem ultimately delivered.
Paradoxically, there is
another man, a man considered by many to be a man of war, who is credited with bringing
about peace. For the last couple of
weeks I’ve been reading a biography about said peacemaker, General David
Petraeus. I was extremely impressed by his
thoughts on strategic leadership.
Petraeus said there
are four tasks he thinks strategic leaders have to perform:
- First, “Get the ‘Big Ideas’ right.”
- Second, “Effectively communicate the
Big Ideas.”
- Third, “Oversee the implementation
of the Big Ideas.”
- Fourth, “Capture best practices and
lessons…to help refine the Big Ideas.”
After reading that I earnestly,
honestly, and objectively tried to identify what Obama’s “Big Ideas” are – what
is it he believes in? Closing GTMO, the
Iran deal, climate change, sexual rights (a new government term), Making
America Great Again (just kidding). It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
What is the “big idea”
of the Obama administration – honestly, I have no idea.
This column appears in The Upson Beacon, 23 SEP 2015 published in Upson County, GA.
A good piece, Colonel. As for Petraeus's four rules, while they're good, I'd add a fifth:
ReplyDelete5. Ensure that there exists a reliable monitoring and feedback mechanism for every operation of one's forces, so that mistakes will be recognized, acknowledged, and corrected.
Without negative feedback, any system will eventually go off the rails.
With 3 minutes' of thought between reading your post and writing this, I'm left with the conclusion that Obama's "big idea" is government.
ReplyDeleteGovernment is the answer, the arbiter, the voice, the proponent and contrarian and the moderator to the question that government posed on behalf of its subjects.
And the solution. More government.