Commentary By Ron Beasley
Obama's Oval Office performance was a flop. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman trashed him and that should be a friendly crowd of talking heads.
Olbermann: "It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the
last 57 days."
Matthews compared Obama to Carter.
Olbermann: "Nothing specific at all was said."
Matthews: "No direction."
Howard Fineman: "He wasn't specific enough."
Olbermann: "I don't think he aimed low, I don't think he aimed at all.
It's startling."
Howard Fineman: Obama should be acting like a "commander-in-chief."
Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a
Nobel prize. "I'll barf if he does it one more time."
Matthews: "A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk."
Matthews: "I don't sense executive command."
Matthews nailed it - "I don't sense executive command." A couple of days ago Steve Soto complained that Obama was not interested in being the leader of the Democratic Party. I don't think that Steve went far enough. I don't think Obama is capable of being a leader at a time that the Democratic Party, the country and the world really needs one. I have been critical of many of his policies - not the change we wanted or needed - but to be an instrument of change you must also be a leader.
Given the same choice I would still vote for Obama over John McCain, an angry old man who has never demonstrated any leadership qualities himself. Was there anyway to know Obama was not a leader? Maybe, but it's hard to identify a leader until they find themselves in a leadership position.
While I have disagreed with may Obama policies he demonstrated last night that his real flaw is a lack of leadership.
Update
I dunno. This speech felt entirely by-the-numbers to me. He told us
about the spill. He told us the best minds in the country were working
on it. He told us BP would pay for it. He told us he was setting up some
commissions. He said he wanted an energy bill of some kind. Then he
told us all to pray. It felt like he was reading off a PowerPoint deck.This is, by a long way, the most negative reaction I've ever had to
an Obama speech. Even on Afghanistan, where I was dubious of his
strategy and felt his address at West Point was technocratic and
unconvincing, I thought his speech had at least a few redeeming
features. But this one? There was just nothing there. I felt better
about Obama's response to the spill before the speech than I do now.
Update II
A Tepid Plea for Unspecified Change
Maybe, but it's hard to identify a leader until they find themselves in a leadership position.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why the President never should have made it through the primaries.
I remember sending an e-mail out to half a dozen friends asking why in the world they could think of supporting Mr. Obama when he had virtually no track record in any kind of leadership position - heck, he was still a rookie in the senate - right around super Tuesday. President Obama made it through the primaries on the basic of rhetoric and personality, not proven skill.
Which is not to say he is the only one to accomplish this feat - he certainly is not. But that it is possible at all says something rather dispiriting about American democracy, does it not?