One of President-elect Barack Obama’s few campaign gaffes was his botched attempt to fit in by playing one of mid-America’s cherished pastimes, bowling.
During a campaign swing through Pennsylvania, then candidate Obama donned a bowling shirt, put on a pair of two-toned bowling slippers and unceremoniously rolled a whopping 37.
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Afterwards, the alley manager lamented that he should have outfitted the candidate’s lane with kiddie-bumpers to prevent Obama from tossing so many gutter balls.
According to reports from Hawaii, Obama’s golf game, the chosen sport of most American Presidents, was not much better. Lucky for the new President that his handicap and scores have been elevated to a state secret.
Where Bush Is Superior
There is no question that the bowling and golf scores of our outgoing chief executive would knock the knickers and socks off his successor.
Everyone also would agree, that W is simply better at being one of the boys than Barack Obama.
One of the chief criticisms leveled at Obama is that he is an intellectual snob and an elitist. Critics of the new President’s appointments have likewise disparaged his picks as coming from the same mold as their future boss.
We are in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in nearly 60 years. We don’t need a President who can put away a six-pack with the best of them. Instead, we need a President who has the intellectual capacity to simultaneously act on multiple fronts, and the internal fortitude to lead.
A report released this morning shows that orders placed with U.S. factories in November fell twice as much as forecast, signaling businesses are cutting back on investments and providing further evidence that a widening recession may linger longer than initially predicted.
Demand fell 4.6 percent after a revised 6 percent decrease in October that was larger than previously estimated. The back-to-back decline was the biggest since records began in 1992. By all indications, companies are likely to pare spending further as access to credit dries up and global demand slows.
Details of Stimulus Plan Separate Matter
To make matters worse, mounting unemployment, plunging home values and frozen credit markets will keep stifling businesses from banks to builders, as retailers reel from what may have been the worst holiday shopping season in at least four decades.
Yesterday, after returning from his Hawaiian vacation and packing his children off to school, the President-elect hit Capitol Hill. Even though his inaugural is two weeks away; Obama has been working tirelessly to lay the groundwork for his first days in office.
Obama has called for an economic stimulus of unprecedented proportion to prevent the recession from deepening. He has proposed a two-year package, costing as much as $850 billion.
The President-elect’s proposed package is a complex mix of spending and tax breaks, with an emphasis on infrastructure projects that are designed to give manufacturing a boost. As the new President seems to understand, the devil will be in the political details of the plan.
Let’s Give Recreation a Rest
Spending and stimulus programs aside, this President must not be afraid to apply his intellect and obvious acumen to solving our nation’s critical problems.
This President cannot waste his time trying to be one of the guys. If this means that he must put away his sand wedge and putter or convert the legendary White House bowling alley into a basketball gym, so be it.
It’s time we had a President who not only has the skill to stroke an outside jumper, but one who has the versatility to dish an assist to an open cutter while retaining the capacity to muscle-up in the paint with America’s best and brightest.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group[ based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
