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Email MyBestYears GUEST eCOLUMN.com
Email MyBestYears GUEST eCOLUMN.com
The recent presidential election was the most expensive in world history. Aided with
oodles of (sometimes) questionable money and a complicit mainstream media, Obama
maintained the fiction of “change” and renaissance to win. Now what?
Without even factoring in the unanticipated, inevitable mega-crisis, President Obama sits
down to an already overfull plate.
Such is a long and very incomplete list of what President Obama will find in his morning
briefing folder when he plops down in the oval office.
Lonely at the Top?
Historian Jay Wink crystallized the loneliness of the Oval Office in The Wall Street
Journal. (Click here to read the article.)
“The day after Abraham Lincoln's election, he assembled a gaggle of reporters and
boisterously declared, ‘Well boys, your troubles are now over; mine have only just
begun.’” And that, Jack, is a fact. Wink notes that “the best advisers can't take
momentous decisions out of the president's hands.”
Regardless of how many gray-haired wise men Obama surrounds himself with, ultimately
it will be his call (complete with the attendant consequences) when faced with valued
allies at war, a chemical, biological or nuclear attack on U.S. soil, or natural disaster.
Thomas Jefferson once noted, “No man will ever bring out of the presidency the
reputation which carried him into it.”
No one knows what the next four years will bring. Frankly, I wish the new president well,
and hope and pray that he exceeds expectations and frustrates his critics (yours truly
included). However, despite what we want for the country, conventional wisdom (and the
systemic “jones” for spending, suggests Obama has the potential of overshadowing
Jimmy Carter.
themselves.
And yet the articulated agenda of the incoming administration is, discourage thrift to gain
prosperity; weaken the strong to strengthen the weak; put down the wage payer to help
the earner; encourage class hatred to further the brotherhood of many; destroy the rich
to help the poor; spend what we don’t have to get out of trouble created by spending;
destroy initiative and independence; and abandon self reliance so Big Brother can take
care of you?
Reality
Stuff happens and things change. Wants, needs and desires inevitably are overwhelmed
by inertia.
Hey, George W. Bush, campaigned on
humility in foreign policy. That was his
articulated want and desire.
Then 9/11 happened and suddenly his
policy is to impose democracy globally
whether recipients of his largess wanted it
or not. Stuff happens and things change.
It has always been fascinating that running
for office requires two (often diametrically
opposed) skill sets.
First, the candidate must be a great salesman. They have to establish rapport,
proselytize, and overcome objections at the same time.
However, if or when elected, the skills required to manage as the executive are very
different and not often transferable. “Despite his many talents, Mr. Obama's presidency
will almost certainly be a tall order given his lack of experience,” said Wink.
Ambrose Bierce said, "The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff."
oodles of (sometimes) questionable money and a complicit mainstream media, Obama
maintained the fiction of “change” and renaissance to win. Now what?
Without even factoring in the unanticipated, inevitable mega-crisis, President Obama sits
down to an already overfull plate.
- Gaza/Israel-Hamas: The ubiquitous
“Mideast problem” is yet further
exacerbated and past harsh rhetoric and
perpetual reciprocal killings escalate.
- China, Russia, North Korea, and Cuba.
- Economy is in the toilet and billion-dollar
bailouts seem to be the coming rage,
notwithstanding the inevitable reality that
“someone” is going to have to come up with
that trillion dollars.
- Congressional hubris (Click here to read the article), already a stage four
carcinogenic, seems poised for a power induced “my way or the highway” jihad
against their constituents.
- The EU (that Peter Hitchens once called the next Soviet Union) continues to
solidify their economic clout, primarily by undermining U.S. strengths.
Such is a long and very incomplete list of what President Obama will find in his morning
briefing folder when he plops down in the oval office.
Lonely at the Top?
Historian Jay Wink crystallized the loneliness of the Oval Office in The Wall Street
Journal. (Click here to read the article.)
“The day after Abraham Lincoln's election, he assembled a gaggle of reporters and
boisterously declared, ‘Well boys, your troubles are now over; mine have only just
begun.’” And that, Jack, is a fact. Wink notes that “the best advisers can't take
momentous decisions out of the president's hands.”
Regardless of how many gray-haired wise men Obama surrounds himself with, ultimately
it will be his call (complete with the attendant consequences) when faced with valued
allies at war, a chemical, biological or nuclear attack on U.S. soil, or natural disaster.
Thomas Jefferson once noted, “No man will ever bring out of the presidency the
reputation which carried him into it.”
No one knows what the next four years will bring. Frankly, I wish the new president well,
and hope and pray that he exceeds expectations and frustrates his critics (yours truly
included). However, despite what we want for the country, conventional wisdom (and the
systemic “jones” for spending, suggests Obama has the potential of overshadowing
Jimmy Carter.
Lessons from the Past
Abraham Lincoln correctly observed:
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the
strong.
You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the
wage payer.
You cannot further the brotherhood of many by
encouraging class hatred.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than
you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away
man's initiative and independence.
themselves.
And yet the articulated agenda of the incoming administration is, discourage thrift to gain
prosperity; weaken the strong to strengthen the weak; put down the wage payer to help
the earner; encourage class hatred to further the brotherhood of many; destroy the rich
to help the poor; spend what we don’t have to get out of trouble created by spending;
destroy initiative and independence; and abandon self reliance so Big Brother can take
care of you?
Reality
Stuff happens and things change. Wants, needs and desires inevitably are overwhelmed
by inertia.
Hey, George W. Bush, campaigned on
humility in foreign policy. That was his
articulated want and desire.
Then 9/11 happened and suddenly his
policy is to impose democracy globally
whether recipients of his largess wanted it
or not. Stuff happens and things change.
It has always been fascinating that running
for office requires two (often diametrically
opposed) skill sets.
First, the candidate must be a great salesman. They have to establish rapport,
proselytize, and overcome objections at the same time.
However, if or when elected, the skills required to manage as the executive are very
different and not often transferable. “Despite his many talents, Mr. Obama's presidency
will almost certainly be a tall order given his lack of experience,” said Wink.
Ambrose Bierce said, "The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff."
| Geoff Metcalf is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host. He is a veteran media performer with an eclectic professional background covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers. A former Green Beret and retired Army office, he is in great demand as a speaker. Metcalf is a published author of both fiction (The Terrorist Killers) and non-fiction (In The Arena). He was a columnist for the Sacramento Union and an editorial writer for the Evening Times in Rhode Island. Currently he is a regular weekly columnist for several on line publications including NewsMax. In addition to his prodigious writing and broadcasting assignments, he is an avid hunter, fisherman, black belt martial artists, literature and jazz buff. Geoff is a recipient of the NRA Defender of Freedom Award, and numerous community awards. © 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved. Used by permission from the author. |
GEOFF METCALF
Reality looms just around the corner as President-elect
Obama prepares for his coronation/inaugural.
As the confluence of saying and doing approaches, one
is reminded of the final scene in the 1972 Robert Redford
movie The Candidate, when after finally winning the
election he wasn’t supposed to, the winner is seen turning
to his campaign poobah and asking, “Marvin . . . What do
we do now?”
- ...Obama Faces Long Road
Reality looms just around the corner as President-elect
Obama prepares for his coronation/inaugural.
As the confluence of saying and doing approaches, one
is reminded of the final scene in the 1972 Robert Redford
movie The Candidate, when after finally winning the
election he wasn’t supposed to, the winner is seen turning
to his campaign poobah and asking, “Marvin . . . What do
we do now?”
