All Play and No Work!

By William L. Garvin

We taxpayers recently bought two buses from a Canadian company so the President could spend three days touring the Midwest perfecting his campaign speeches. He chose to ride in a black $1.2 million “Mega-Hearse” that personified the gloom and doom permeating the American economy that he attributed to “bad luck.”

After three arduous days on the taxpayer funded campaign trail, President Obama announced that he had another economic plan that he would announce “after Labor Day.” Never mind the unemployment data, never mind the psychotic stock market, never mind the dismal GDP growth rates, never mind the national debt, and, most of all, never mind his leadership responsibilities. Exhausted from the sheer effort of announcing a coming announcement, it’s time to take another vacation. Don’t roll up your sleeves and get to work. Don’t pressure Congress to come back to town and roll up their sleeves. Don’t allay the national fears and show the taxpayers your plan. Nope, take a vacation.

And not just any vacation…take a Martha’s Vineyard vacation. The Vineyard (along with its smaller cousin, the infamous Chappaquiddick) is an island seven miles off Cape Cod. It’s the summer home of millionaires, billionaires, corporate jet owners and luxurious yachts. Doesn’t it seem rather unseemly of the President to want to rub elbows with those whom he has been excoriating for months? Doesn’t it seem rather nouveau riche? Doesn’t it seem rather insensitive to the 50 million Americans on food stamps? How does this luxurious lifestyle resonate with the 13.9 million who are unemployed, the 2.8 million who are only “marginally attached” to the workforce and the additional 1.1 million “discouraged workers” who have just plain given up?

The President has demonstrated an affinity for campaigning, vacationing, and playing golf. He seems to like “being” President, making speeches, and basking in the glow of choreographed adoring crowds. He does not seem to like “doing” President, i.e., sitting down, buckling down and taking care of business as our nation’s Chief Executive. He has yet to demonstrate a significant work ethic or even a grasp of the basics of governance. In his academically insulated world, “the buck stops everywhere else but here.” Keep in mind that he voted for and supported TARP even though he has subsequently demagogued banks and Wall Street. He delegated and abrogated the details of the not so shovel ready Stimulus Bill to the Reid-Pelosi supermajority in Congress. The same scenario was followed for his signature Health Care bill. When you know there is no way the opposition can stop you, you have all the time necessary for quality control. The President failed and the programs failed.

No one is suggesting that Presidents don’t deserve vacations but timing and tone is everything. Maybe going home and clearing brush as Ronald Reagan did or building a pathway as George Bush did would be more appropriate in a time when so many Americans are struggling. Even toning down the size and scope of the ostentatious entourages that accompany foreign visits would be appreciated. As for golf, President George W. Bush was chided for the twenty-four rounds he played over eight years, President Obama has tripled that number in less than three years!

No one is suggesting that the President become some sort of eyeshade wearing policy wonk. However, when it comes to explanations of critical decisions, we deserve more than “pull off the band-aid,” “eat your peas,” “car in the ditch,” “pull the plug on grandma” bromides. It’s probable that when you have no experience making executive decisions, you will have even more trouble explaining them.

Texts on desirable leadership qualities generally cite honesty, competence, forward-looking, and inspiring. Do you do what you say you are going to do? Do you give the country what it needs to be successful? Do you have a positive vision for the future? Can you inspire the nation to get through the difficult times? Sadly the promises of the campaign are not translating into reality for this President. Even his oratorical gifts now sound as hollow as the Greek columns he once affected. We cannot afford four more years of leadership inexperience.