Obama Arrogance Proves Most Destructive

I think this excerpt clearly illustrates the single most defining personality flaw of  President Obama:

Barack Obama, perhaps the most self-confident person to occupy that office in our lifetime, was always skating along the edge of a cliff of self-destructive arrogance. No other president would have thought to berate the members of the Supreme Court as they sat in front of him during his State of the Union speech. The famous George Washington University speech in which he ridiculed his Republican partners in the deficit-negotiation talks, who had come to the speech expecting to hear a policy response, was another sign of potential danger.

And finally there was the report a few weeks ago that Mr. Obama did not respect Gov. Romney and did not consider him competent to be president.
 

It is standard for the swells in the media and on the Democratic side of the aisle to berate former President George W. Bush as someone less than intelligent to be President of the United States. Though he, too, earned a degree from Harvard - a MBA, thank you - and an undergrad degree from Yale University, he is usually considered a lightweight in the intellectual department by those thinking themselves superior.  No one, however, ever accused him of a disturbing degree of arrogance in his personality.  He was a humble man leading in a humble way.

By pulling the wool over enough voter's eyes, frankly, President Obama intends to win re-election much as he did his first term - by mouthing plenty of empty platitudes and making promises he can not possibly keep in a second term.   He has yet to be held responsible for his failures in bringing recovery to our floundering economy and his residence in a well-protected bubble of praise and encouragement from his own staff and the White House press corps, along with all of the usual supporters in the mainstream media, has produced a man clueless to the reality that he very well may be defeated in November. He has relied on a campaign run much as he has governed - allow surrogates to frame the issues and deploy hateful attacks on his opponents.  The goal has been to continue putting forth issues into the discussion that distract from the economic realities on the ground. Above all else, the Obama campaign intends to make the election about everything but the economy.

The Republican stitched all of this together into a frontal assault on the economic reality of the last four years. This is something Mr. Obama doesn't want to discuss, preferring to talk about "the mess" he inherited and the hope and change that will finally arrive in a second term. He even said during the debate that the crucial question is "not where we've been but where we're going."
 

The theme of the Obama campaign is "Forward".  The irony is that in order to boost enthusiasm for the campaign, Team Obama had to drag out Bill Clinton, dust him off and put him at the podium during the Democratic National Committee's convention last month. There is no love lost between the two men so that must have been a bitter pill to swallow. We are now told that Clinton was the man with the best economy in recent history and we must go back to his policies.  The problem with that is that 2012 is not 1994.  President Clinton was dragged kicking and screaming into fiscal responsibility that led to his successes by a Republican congress, the first Republican majorities in more than forty years brought on by the voters refusal to accept Hillarycare, as Clinton's sweeping health insurance power grab was called back then.  Clinton had to work with a Republican controlled congress, as he had no other choice.  Newt Gingrich and his leadership structure in the House of Representatives brought in a mandate from the voters demanding a balanced budget, spending reforms, and entitlement reforms. 

Barack Obama  admitted to a "shellacking" in November 2010 as his Obamacare legislation was soundly rejected by the electorate across the country.  Republicans took back control of the House with a large majority.  The Senate is now up for grabs, too.  If Barack Obama is re-elected, he will be forced to work with Republicans if he is to accomplish anything at all.  Though he is quite fond of ruling with executive orders, - something he criticized former President Bush about - the man described as a constitutional scholar will have to learn the real art of governing for all Americans, not just Democrats.

The reality is that I think President Obama is, simply put, incapable of governing. He has never had the opportunity to learn the skill and he has never put in the time or ambition to learn how to govern.  His arrogance brought him to the place he is now - he allowed an adoring media to propel him into the office and he allowed his Democratic congress to do his bidding in legislative action.  He allowed Peolsi and Reid to write and pass through Obamacare because he wanted nothing more than a huge new entitlement on which to hang his hat as his own presidential legacy. He was so determined to shove through his legacy making legislation that it was done on a single party vote - that which has never been done before. Ever. The man was unable to get any Republicans to vote on it.

Barack Obama knows how to do one thing and that is to campaign for elected office.  He's good at it, after all these years. Every move he makes is in the framework of the next election.  He ran for state representative and lost in Illinois so he moved on to running for the state senate.  He won and hung around long enough to push to the national scene.  He delivered a good speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was crowned the next rising star in the party.  I'll admit I watched the speech and fell for it, too. The man can deliver a speech with his trusty teleprompter. That was before, of course, I knew who he was or his story.

As U.S. Senator Obama, Barack felt entitled to running for President after barely two years in that office. He felt entitled because no one ever tells him otherwise. His arrogance is justified.

Unfortunately for America, Barack Obama did not rise to the challenge of the office. After he won the 2008 election, he continued on as before.  He never fulfilled campaign promises - particularly the ones that he would bring us all together and work for all Americans. He kept his eye on the 2012 election instead. The man has no core.