The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House
By Ed Lasky
May 14, 2012
Edward Klein's new book on Barack Obama, `The Amateur: Barack Obama in
the White House', is a withering portrayal of a radical adrift, in
over his head, drowning in his own incompetency -- while being weighed
down by a small circle of "advisers" who are compounding the problem
of the Amateur in the White House.
Klein's book begins with a talisman-like quote uttered by Barack Obama
when his recently appointed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tried to
boost Obama's ego by telling him, "Your legacy is going to be
preventing the second Great Depression." To which Barack Obama
responded, "That's not enough for me."
As all of America knows by now, Obama has aggressively sought to
"fundamentally transform" America -- one of the few promises he has
kept from the days of 2008. Five trillion dollars of borrowing,
ObamaCare passed over the objections of the majority of
Americans through legislative legerdemain and special deals made with
resistant politicians, failed stimulus, green programs failing left
and right as taxpayers are left holding the bag, a recovery that is
the most anemic on record, an America that has been sundered by the
man who promises to unite us, America weaker abroad and at home --
yes, America has been fundamentally transformed. Mission
Accomplished.
But how and why did Obama succeed in such a catastrophic way? That is
the question that Klein successfully answers in his extremely readable
and enjoyable book, with enough spicy details to satisfy the craving
of anyone interested in how President Obama and those closest to him
have driven us to the condition we find ourselves in as we approach
November.
One of the motifs that runs throughout the book is Barack Obama's
sheer level of incompetency. He has the fatal conceit of many
politicians: an overweening ego. That may be a prerequisite for
politicians and leaders, but when it is unleavened by a willingness to
consider the views of others, it becomes a fatal conceit. And Obama
has that trait in abundance.
Stories tumble out that reveal a man who believes he is all but
omniscient -- unwilling to give any credence to the views of others
(especially but not limited to those across the aisle). Experts in
management are interviewed who point out that he lacks essential
qualities of leadership. Indeed, the book gets its title from an
outburst from Bill Clinton, who was trying to encourage Hillary to
take on Obama in the Democratic primary of 2012:
`Obama doesn't know how to be president. He doesn't know how the
world works. He's incompetent. He's...he's...Barack Obama's an
amateur.'
But Klein does not rest there. He delves into associates from Obama's
career in Cook County politics, his stint as a state senator, and his
rise to the United States Senate. There is a common pattern: Obama
likes to campaign, but once he is elected and actually starts working,
his interest flags, and he starts looking for the next "big thing" --
electorally speaking. He had few, if any, accomplishments or
professional standing in any of his previous positions. Even when he
served as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, he
avoided any encounters with other faculty who enjoyed discussing the
law. His reluctance to engage them is revealing in and of itself,
suggesting he had a reason for his lack of confidence.
His disdain toward working with others is manifest. He has gained a
reputation over the last few years as being cold and distant, refusing
to engage, as have other presidents, in the give-and-take of politics,
in the social niceties that help grease the wheels in Washington.
Liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen recently advised him
to read Robert Caro's newest volume on the life of Lyndon Johnson as a
primer on how to be president. Johnson, of course, was a master at
pulling levers of power, but he also knew how to persuade individual
politicians on both sides of the aisle to work with him on
legislation. But, of course, LBJ also had the common touch and,
having risen from humble beginnings, never considered it beneath him
to work with those underneath him. Not so Barack Obama. He
complained to foreign leaders that he had to waste time talking with
"congressmen from Palookaville." At another time, he switched locales
and said he was tired of dealing with people from "Podunk."
His campaign trail comments regarding small-town America as being
populated by "bitter" people who cling to guns and Bibles was not a
one-off. They are reflective of his views.
But the high and the mighty also come in for the Obama treatment.
Klein reveals dismay among former Obama supporters who feel they have
been mistreated, maligned, and thrown under the bus. Obama's most
generous early donors have been all but ignored; early mentors in the
black business community have been sidelined if not completely
ditched; people don't hear from him or his staff unless a fundraiser
is coming up. But there is more: Caroline Kennedy is angry at the way
she and her family were used for campaign purposes in 2008 and then
summarily dismissed and stored away like so many movie props have been
(the latter is my description).
Even Oprah Winfrey has been stiff-armed by the Obamas. According to
the book, Oprah took a big risk in supporting Obama in 2008 and
campaigning for Obama in Iowa, being a big boost in his campaign. The
ratings for her show weakened significantly (and her new network has
been a huge disappointment). But when she has tried to visit the
White House, she has been all but treated as persona non grata.
Apparently, Michelle Obama is a possessive person who fears the
influence Oprah may have over Barack Obama (more on this below).
Oprah blames it on Michelle's anti-obesity campaign. She is quoted as
saying, "Michelle hates fat people and doesn't want me waddling around
the White House." Klein digs up a quotation of Michelle Obama's from
a White House source that seems to confirm Oprah's suspicion:
`Oprah only wants to cash in using the White House as a backdrop for
her show to perk up ratings. Oprah with her yo-yo dieting and huge
girth, is a terrible role model. Kids will look at Oprah, who's rich
and famous and huge, and figure it's okay to be fat.'
Oprah, Caroline Kennedy, Pastor Jeremiah Wright (who merits a
chapter), and Obama's former long-time doctor (who feels Obama is
distant and lacks feeling, passion, and humanity) all join a long list
of people whom the Obamas have used, abused, and then cast aside once
they moved into the White House.
A few have survived the winnowing process, of course. There is
Michelle, who might be described as the living and real-life
descendant of Lady Macbeth. The book provides some history of the
early days between Barack and Michelle: marked by some tempests, yet
also marked by Michelle's overwhelming push for Barack to win power
and wealth. Insiders are reluctant to tangle with the First Lady, and
with good reason. Michelle, like her husband, has a proclivity to
blame others for her husband's failures. Former Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs felt her sting when it was revealed that Michelle had
complained about life in the White House to the then-first lady of
France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Gibbs acted to control the damage by
arranging for the Élysée Palace to issue a denial.
But the response did not come quickly enough for Michelle, and she
arranged for Valerie Jarrett -- close to the Obamas for years, and who
has an omnipresence in the White House that makes the unelected and
unconfirmed czar issue seem trivial -- to deliver a stern rebuke to
Gibbs, who counter-attacked. Anyone heard from Robert Gibbs lately?
The role of Valerie Jarrett has prompted much speculation. As Edward
Klein notes, she has a mouthful of a title -- senior adviser and
assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public
engagement -- that "doesn't begin to do justice to her unrivaled
status in the White House." Valerie Jarrett apparently has a role in
most major decisions: she often appears in meetings the president has
with major political leaders from Capitol Hill and with foreign
leaders as well. She often stays behind to have private discussions
with the president. Obama admitted that he ran every decision by her.
That is worrying since, as Klein notes, Jarrett's own career is not
one that would prepare her to assume such a prominent role. Hers is
no rags-to-riches story that would give her the "chops" to have such a
Svengali-like influence over the president of the United States. She
was blessed with a wonderful set of advantages -- descended from a
highly regarded political family in Chicago. Jarrett was a force to
be reckoned with in the Daley administration and then capitalized on
her political connections to land a job heading up a real estate
company in Chicago where she oversaw, among other developments,
properties that under her company's management degenerated into
slums. Business leaders are aghast that she has such a powerful role
in the White House. A donor is quoted as saying that not only is
Valerie Jarrett a liability, but others in the White House concur with
his views. Jarrett has butted heads with Rahm Emanuel, who felt that
it was wrong to focus on passing ObamaCare when the economy and jobs
should have been higher priorities.
Who won that match? Rahm returned to Chicago and became mayor in
2009.
The roles of Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett cannot be overstated.
They are symptomatic of a larger problem in the White House decision-
making process (one that I noted in "How Obama Makes Decisions").
Barack Obama, to a greater extent than any modern president, refuses
to listen to the views of others or consult with experts and advisers
outside his own tight and constricted circle from Cook County. There
are many revelations of his faulty decision making uncovered by
Klein. Indeed, one of Jarrett's roles is to shield Obama from dealing
with people who don't agree with him or who may say something that
deflates his ego.
When Bill Daley (the chief of staff) realized that the contraception
and abortifacient mandates of ObamaCare might offend Catholics, he
arranged a meeting without Jarrett's knowledge between Obama and New
York then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan to deal with an issue that would
offend many as violating the principle of religious freedom (as well
as Catholic beliefs). Jarrett went to the president and vented her
anger.
Anyone seen Bill Daley lately?
On issue after issue, President Obama remains his insular self,
refusing to seek counsel or input from others with more experience.
Critics believe he has made a mess of foreign policy precisely because
not only does he have a dearth of experience in this area, but
because, under our system, foreign policy is one of the few areas
where a president enjoys almost unlimited power. Thus, he is free to
formulate his own agenda regardless of the views of others and the
damage these policies cause.
When pro-Israel Americans met with Obama to discuss his actions toward
Israel (that many, including myself, view as being counterproductive)
he dismissed the ideas of Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation
League, with the statement "you are absolutely wrong." The president,
who has no compunction telling people that they are not only wrong,
but "absolutely wrong" in public, needs to start feeling some of the
empathy he accuses Republicans of lacking. According to veteran
journalist Richard Chesnoff, quoted in the book, "Obama's problem in
dealing with the Arab-Israeli conundrum" comes "from his one-man style
and his inflated view of his own leadership talents[.] ... [P]erhaps,
even more egregiously, he seems to have an exaggerated sense of his
own depth of understanding of the Middle East, which is simply not
borne out by his background or experience." There may be more to it
than that to explain the pressure he has put on our one true ally in
the Middle East, Israel. American Thinker published numerous articles
in 2008 covering not only Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Junior's views of
Israel as an apartheid state, but Obama's associations with anti-
Israel Palestinians in Chicago, his own suspect language regarding
Israel, and his close relationship with Samantha Power (now playing a
key role on his National Security Council), who not only has a long
anti-Israel history but also made an anti-Semitic remark that was
smothered by the media in 2008. There were good reasons for the Los
Angeles Times to run a column during the campaign that "Allies of
Palestinians see a friend in Obama."
Readers will thoroughly enjoy Klein's book on Obama. There are
substantive issues raised about Obama's leadership abilities that are
enhanced with interesting digressions regarding life inside ObamaWorld
and how those dynamics effect decisions made from the Oval Office.
Klein concludes the book with doubt that Obama could ever change his
approach toward governing and suspicion that his agenda is to impose a
vast redistribution scheme upon America that has worked so well in the
decaying and disintegrating European Union. He wonders if Republicans
are up to the task of pointing out to the public the truth about
Obama's agenda, given the overwhelming media bias in favor of Barack
Obama.
Klein's book could serve as a roadmap for Republicans.
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Ed Lasky is news editor of American Thinker.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/the_amateur_barack_obama_in_the_white_house.html