The End of an Error

I'm not going to be watching President Obama's farewell address tonight.  I know what he's going to say, and I can parse that from the truth of the matter (this is not a specific slam against the outgoing POTUS per se; all politicians' speeches require - for those informed and not partisan - some degree of ability to parse truth).

I do feel somewhat vindicated that his Presidency turned out exactly as I expected it would when he first ran for the office in 2007.  I predicted that this was a candidate who lacked the requisite experience to fulfill his charge.  And his record has lived down to that expectation.

President Obama began his career as a community organizer - a somewhat nebulous job title.  Oh, I can study what he actually did in the role, but I struggle to see it as a solid foundation for taking on the role of leader of the free world some 24 years later.  (To be fair, I became a CEO at the age of 39, and 24 years earlier I was a high school student whose guidance counselor advised him to not waste his time on college prep courses, because he'd never go to college.  However, it's what I did in the interim -  including two college degrees and some very relevant job experience - that mattered in the end.)

So what did Mr. Obama do in the interim?  Well, after three years of community organizing, he went to Harvard Law School - quite an achievement in its own right.  He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School, another venerable institution, for 12 years, while remaining politically active.  So by the ripe old age of 35, his resume included community organizer, attorney, and toiling in the ivory tower of academia.

Then, he ran for the Senate in his home state of Illinois.  A consummate campaigner, he was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 1998 and 2002.  He took a detour to campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, but lost.  Even as he was gaining re-election in 2002, he had begun an exploratory campaign to seek a U.S. Senate seat, which he ran for beginning in 2003, winning election in 2004.

Eight years, five political campaigns.  Given the time required to devote to a political campaign, one is left to wonder how he had time to actually serve his constituents.

Two years after being sworn in as a U.S. Senator, he announced his candidacy for POTUS.  He missed 38% of Senate votes in 2007, and 64% in 2008.  But he gave a great speech as the keynote speaker at the 2004 DNC, which solidified his position as a rising star in the Democrat party.  And, he would be our nation's first African-American President, which was also compelling.

And thus my concerns back in 2007.  Like many Americans, I believed we were more than ready for an African-American President.  But I didn't want us to pick just any candidate to fulfill that place in history.  Let's have someone with the necessary experience, I silently pleaded.  Not someone whose greatest demonstrated abilities to date were public speaking and campaigning.

He's certainly good at both.  I recall listening to his inaugural address, thinking, "Maybe I was wrong."  It sure sounded good.  But after it was over, a nagging line from "Braveheart" crept into my head:  "Fine speech - now what?"

And the "now what" has exposed his inexperience.  Yes, the economy is stronger today than when he took office.  As I've noted previously, it's a fool's errand to assume a cause-and-effect relationship there.  Considering where the economy was when he took office, my dog Max could have been President for the ensuing eight years, and the economy would have improved (especially with the help of a Fed that held rates at zero for a period of time equal to the prior three interest rate cycles combined, and pumped three trillion dollars into the economy).

Obamacare?  A noble idea, horribly executed.  (As a former CEO, I know that's the clearest sign of inexperience: smart people - which Obama certainly is - coming up with great ideas, but screwing the pooch when it comes to execution.)

Foreign policy?  Feckless and lacking direction.  Again, a sure sign of inexperience:  "What should we do?  Hal?  Hal?" (another movie reference, by the way).

And on and on.

So, President Obama has proven to be everything I expected him to be, and disappointingly, nothing more: a compelling speaker (with a teleprompter), a consummate campaigner, but sorely lacking in the experience needed to lead, to manage, to execute.

I also expected him to be the most divisive President to date, and he's fulfilled those expectations as well.  We are more divided - left and right, black and white, rich and poor - than we've been since the '60s.

We the people should have known better than to commit this error (twice).  Mr. Obama's campaign refrains were even more vague than Donald Trump's, and that's saying something:

1.  "The failed policies of the last eight years."  (That one would be repeated throughout his first term, as President Bush was blamed for everything from the housing bubble to shooting J.R.)

2.  "Hope and Change."  (We hoped; nothing changed.)

3.  "Yes We Can."  (Borrowed from Bob the Builder.)

Mr. Obama began his presidency with the now-infamous apology tour, where he visited leaders around the world, apologizing for America being America.  Guys like Vladimir Putin, Hu Jintao, Kim Yong-Nam, and the ayatollahs began salivating.

He's ending it with a world tour of defending his record, trying to preserve his legacy.  Good luck with that.  Since the election, he's used the pen and the phone to do all he can to make it more difficult for the PEOTUS to unravel that legacy, but it's inevitable - and necessary.  That's what he'll be doing tonight.  I've heard it before, and I know better.

I heard today that a bunch of Hollywood celebrities have put together a video celebrating his presidency.  Stars like Ellen Degeneres talking about what a good dancer he is, and other substantive accolades.  And it gave me a thought.

President Obama has enjoyed rubbing shoulders with those celebrities during the past eight years.  He's relished appearances with everyone from Jimmy Kimmel to GloZell, the youtube vlogger who drank cereal from a bathtub and snorted cinnamon.  In fact, celebrities may be the only group in America that can look at President Obama and say, "Yeah, he's one of us."

That's when it occurred to me: President Obama used his presidency to become a celebrity.  Donald Trump used his celebrity to become President.  Thus far, that may be the greatest difference between them.

Let's hope and pray it doesn't stay that way.