We are reminded once again today that President Obama was elected twice for the way he looks, not for the wide open spaces that surround his thinking apparatus.
Realists among his closest advisors long have known this. They have warned their friends, in strictest confidence, that Mr. Obama entered politics for its trappings, for the glitter it could accord him, emphatically not for the gray matter dimension. For that, they acknowledge, Michelle would have made a far more effective President.
His grasp of history, of syntax, of current events is thinner than a baby tree twig.
Strategizing fails to interest Mr. Obama because it baffles him. Show alone is his shtick. Huge shards of evidence from Mr. Obama’s pre-White House years make this claim irreversibly clear. Voters, however, were swept away by his surface-deep glamour. They worship star quality, and so does he, especially his.
A Rooseveltian Comparison
Much too late, Americans are learning the President is not a serious person. Take FDR, who milked the maximum from his limited skills. He possessed one of the most modest minds in modern Presidential history. He never was close to being the smartest person in the room. But he was a serious man, a strategist, a policy buff.
He had a vision. Mr. Obama does not.
Policy is the name of a favorite racehorse, not a concept that plays even an arcane role in Mr. Obama’s life.
He loves dressing up, taking bows, traveling.
With hilarious sadness, we saw his severe thinking handicap unavoidably forced to the fore two Aprils ago when he ludicrously spoke of “leading from behind” in Libya.
The media humored him. They pretended they didn’t hear.
Now he has foolishly, needlessly trapped himself in another bind – having declared to the world in still another weak moment that if Syria’s dictator crossed a certain red line, using chemical weapons, by golly, by gosh, by thunder, by darn, he would, he would, well, he would bring down the power of America’s military might on the Assad regime.
Informed of their usage, he resorted to his favorite trick-pony – he, ahem, would need to investigate. Ah, yes. Inspector Clouseau.
His failure to again keep his word is America’s largest disappointment – but least surprising development – this week.
If the Washington media were remotely responsible – if a single non-sycophant were among them – the President would be held responsible for his foolish, intentionally misleading statements.
We have entered the ninth month of his blatant lies about the four assassinations last Sept. 11 in Benghazi. He, ahem, is investigating.
Because every leader of import – from Bibi Netanyahu in Jerusalem on down – knew Mr. Obama was hollowly bluffing when he dared Assad to cross his imaginary red line, he deservedly remains a bullseye for ridicule in world capitals.
American prestige is like breakfast cereal, shredded wheat.
I believe each one of his predecessors – Democrat or Republican – would have been forced to defend his red line pledge. Red line? He may as well have said he was walking to the moon tonight. Equal truth is contained in both statements.
