Obama’s grade:  Strategic Thinker, Good  –   Tactician, Poor

Reflecting on the recent trade bills (TPA & TAA) and the Affordable Care Act has caused me to alter my view of this president. Initially, I dismissed him as hopelessly inept. I now believe he has what George Bush(41)called “The Vision Thing” but he lacks the persuasive powers of implementation.

In the military: Generals do the strategic thinking; Colonels develop tactics to implement the strategy.

In business: The Board of Directors sets the policy; the CEO carries out the plans that accomplish the policy objective(s).

In the Investment world: Venture capitalists or investors claim not to invest in ideas, but in people who can make the idea a reality.

In the above sub-cultures there is seldom confusion about roles or the chain of command.

In politics: a president must set goals and motivate (persuade) Congress to pass legislation to achieve those goals. On Capital Hill there is both confusion and chaos caused by self interest.

President Obama has laid out some worthy goals for the nation and the world, but failed miserably to gain the support needed to: a)get them through Congress; or b)convince other world leaders his ideas have lasting merit and are deserving of serious discussion.

He is seen as:

• Articulate though not persuasive
• Intellectual but Arrogant
• Inattentive/intolerant of others needs
• Not socially attractive, but stand-offish
• Surrounded and advised by sycophants

All of which is unfortunate because he has identified several important social needs that have arisen due to the ever-increasing advance of technology.

Who could disagree with the need to fix the country’s health care industry? Obama’s fix, however, addressed only one aspect of the problem: access to the system by lower income citizens.

Left unchecked by Obamacare are the marauding insurance companies, gluttonous pharmaceutical companies and the piranhas of malpractice lawyers – while doctors, nurses and small hospitals are knocked off one-by-one due to their inability to employ lobbyists. How does it help anyone(poor or rich)if there are no more English speaking doctors and only mega-hospitals located in large cities?

I doubt that was the strategic outcome intended when the program was conceived. It happened because the ‘General’ and the ‘Colonel’ are the same individual (Obama), an inept salesman vulnerable to persuasion and/or paralysis by others’ self interests. The lobbyists and a corrupt Congress cannot be trusted to do what’s best for the nation or the health of its citizens.

The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) addresses a real need to normalize trade between nations in what is now a global market brought about by the Internet and electronic commerce. Currently there are few, if any laws, to protect companies against fraud and criminal acts in other countries. Sadly, this bill too, has been hijacked by self interests who proclaim their phony desire to protect American workers from displacement by foreigners.

Guess what? It’s too late. They’ve already been displaced and not likely to come back. The latest sleight of hand is an add-on (TAA)of $2.7 Billion for worker retraining. Retraining into what? Hospital workers? And who will do the retraining? More bureaucrats and additional government overhead will consume most of the allocated funds – Anyone remember the Education Department? How’s that working out for you? Common Core anyone?

No. I now believe the problem in not an inept president. He’s doing the right strategic thinking. It is in the implementation where all this good work falls apart. No bill passed in secret in the dark of night can be a good bill. (“You’ll have to pass the bill to see what’s in it.”)

The country has evolved to where we now need a two-person co-presidency. One with a world view who conceives great ideas, the other with a strangle hold on Congress who can get the right job done. It’s too much to expect any future president to be all things to everyone.

I nominate Robert Gates and Donald Trump. Anyone care to sign my petition?

You are welcome.