Accountability and Responsibility-An Obama Change You Cannot Believe
On the corner of Harry Truman’s desk was a visible sign, simple and too the point, as plain spoken as the owner, conveying what every manager from shop foreman to CEO knows. It is Business 101. The sign read, “THE BUCK STOPS HERE”. After nearly one and a half years in office, Obama has yet to learn the lessons of Harry Truman or to display even a modicum of understanding about leadership, accountability, and responsibility.
But, we can excuse this incompressible lack of understanding on the part of Obama, as the mainstream media seems to be doing, owing to his only work-related experience prior to the ascendancy to the leader of the United States, commanding the largest workforce in the United States, a job requiring abilities to bring all people together for a common purpose, to provide leadership during times of peaces and during times of crises, a realization that he is the Commander in Chief of every department of the US government. You see, folks, Obama came to the office with NO managerial experience.
Obama was a community organizer, not accountable for anything but putting together groups of community activists to petition local, state, and national leaders. This did not train him to be a consensus-builder; it trained him to be an arrogant and divisive factor in the political world of Chicago. His other experiences included a stint as a part-time lecturer at a law school in Chicago teaching constitutional law, not the greatest credential when it comes to managing complex organizations; a state senator in Illinois with a voting record distinguished by the most votes cast s “Present” (seems he wanted to avoid responsibility); and, an incomplete term as a US Senator for Illinois, interrupted by a two year campaign leading to his election as President.
This should not be a surprise to anyone save those unfortunate souls who cannot read nor hear. More people voted for an unknown, untested person than voted against him. We are reminded daily of his lack of accountability and responsibility through his continuous streaming speeches, photo ops, and press conferences. Early on, Obama deflected any criticism by evoking the name George Bush. When that became a broken record and was worsening the confidence gap in Obama, he deftly shifted blame to anyone in his way, other than himself. It was the CEO’s lust for greed. It was corporate greed that was keeping the American public from having Health Insurance, It was the Republican party that was refusing to cooperate in passing the Obama agenda. It was everyone who was responsible for the oil leak (this time he threw many of his bureaucrats and cabinet-level peons under the bus, deflecting, in a peculiar way that is Obama, in a third person voice, what must be done to fix the oil spill and prevent reoccurrences.
Yes, in third person, shedding the waterfall of criticism of his handling the oil-spill crisis like water off a duck’s back. In rides Obama to the rescue, al be it weeks late. Where was the rage seen after the Katrina hurricane, an act of god, not a manmade disaster like the oil spill? Where was the media in demanding faster action and holding Obama accountable? Where is the outrage of the American public? Yes, the Washington blame game has begun with the leading culprits the same, big business, greedy CEO’s incentivized to cut corners, the Republican party, bureaucrats at the regulatory agencies, ad nauseum. Seems the list includes everyone but Obama. Taking a cue from Mad Magazine’s Alfred E Neuman, “What? Me worry” just will not do, Mr. President.
When anything goes wrong, it is your responsibility. You, and you alone, are to be held accountability for the success and the failures of your government. Only during a crisis does the American public get a chance to see how well Obama comprehends the notion that it is his responsibility, he is accountable to the American people when his government does not work.
Sadly, as every day in office goes by, the American public is gaining a greater appreciation of just how little he comprehends the responsibility he has for the successes and the failures
Populism and Politics got you in office, but the American public is best served by a President of the people, by the people, and for the people. People want to see leadership, not grandstanding and posturing. Like the illustration, the American people do not expect some type of comic book hero to appear on sight and plug the hole at the bottom of the ocean. It expects the President to muster the greatest minds and solve the problem in the shortest period of time. We may never rid Washington of the disease of scapegoating, but we can sure demand that our leader be our leader and not some grandstanding Scapegoater-in-Chief leading the charge of the scapgoters.
