Obama Now Using Tragedies For Political Expediency

I got a little upset when I read this article this morning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110113/ap_on_re_us/us_congresswoman_shot_memorial

Apparently President Obama has chosen to use the death of a child as a conduit for asking the nation to be patriotic and quit our "petty" bickering.


Obama focused on memories of the victims and the heroism of those who sprang to their aid after the gunfire. He steered clear of the political tit-for-tat that has consumed much of the dialogue since the massacre while acknowledging the "sharp polarization" that has gripped the country.
He reminded the audience that the third-grader's neighbor had brought Christina, a Little League player and newly elected student council member, to meet Giffords because of her budding interest in democracy.
"She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted," he said. "I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it."

This young girl's death was tragic. It has nothing to do with politics.

Obama clearly doesn't know anything about leadership. His idea of leadership is, "just do what I want." And if you don't agree with me- you are wrong and you need to quit bickering about it.

The concept that has escaped President Obama is a basic one. The people you are leading will only rise to the level of your competency. You must set the example.

I would love to hear what Stephen Covey has to say about Obama's "leadership." I am going to guess that Dr. Covey might say he is underwhelmed and leave it at that. What Obama doesn't understand, and probably never will, is that you must set the example. If you want honesty then you must behave honestly. If you want transparency,  then you must be transparent. If you want hard work and commitment, then you should probably read health care bills and quit taking vacations every month. In the present case, if you want people to quit bickering then you must quit doing it yourself. Obama struggles with this, I think in large part, because he is such a narcissist that he truly believes he is smarter than everyone else. I truly believe that.

There are people that learn leadership concepts through trial and error. Since Obama has never really led anything- how would he know those principles of leadership? The sad truth is clearly he hasn't had the opportunity to learn them. He is left using the only tool that he has. Talking. He simply cannot grasp the fact that he is a poor model of leadership and so now he is willing to seize any available occasion to preach to us.

Yes President Obama, we are angry and we are polarized. Until you address the great grand theft that took place in this country we will continue to be angry. And whining and calling people unpatriotic if we disagree with you- is not something you should be talking about at memorial services. In fact, your rhetoric sounds a lot like the bickering you allege others are engaged in.

That Obama is suing the state of Arizona makes this all the more unbelievable. Our country is only as good as it's leadership. That conscious thought may never occur to this man. Two more years of talk...talk...talk...and some more vacations and maybe then we can get a leader who will restore the rule of law in this country and set an example. Until then I'm afraid, we will get more of this situational expediency.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well done my friend. I want to use this on Saturday unless you would rather I use something else. Let me know if you do.

Cheers!
rawmuse said…
Call me when Holder drops his lawsuit against the State of AZ. Until then, it is all lip service.
Brian said…
Thanks Jim. I tried to clean it up a bit...

Agree RM. Less than 24 months to go.

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