The Lamest Lame Duck

The United States of America faces enormous challenges over the next four years.  However, even before we can start worrying about the next four years we have to confront the challenge that faces us only 54 days after the election. We are racing towards a fiscal cliff that will automatically increase taxes by over $500 billion per year as of the first of next year.  That averages about $3,500 per household.  Spending cuts related to sequestration will amount to over $150 billion per year will also take effect.  A number of new taxes to fund Obamacare also take effect as well as the Medicare "doc fix" and other provisions that are on "auto-pilot".

It is if we are in a speeding vehicle with the accelerator stuck to the floor and no one even has their hands on the wheel right now.

The biggest question people should have on their minds next Tuesday is which man do you trust to be in control of that vehicle?   It is a critically important decision.  Not just for what it means for the next 54 days but whether we have any chance at confronting the even bigger challenges we have over the next four years.

Put everything aside on policy positions and focus on just one question in the Presidential race.

Who do you think has the best chance to provide the leadership to actually get something done?

On the fiscal cliff?  On our federal deficit?  On immigration reform?  On saving Social Security and Medicare?  On restoring confidence in the American economy? On being a more respected Commander-in-Chief?  The capacity to lead on these issues is the most important factor in selecting a President.

We are now in a position that the status quo is not an option.  We simply will not be able to kick the can down the road much longer.  Action and results will be needed on these and other big issues over the next four years.  We need a real leader who can rally the country to get results and be able to make things work in Washington.  That is really what is at stake next Tuesday.

I do not agree with most of President Obama's policy positions.  However, my biggest fear about his re-election right now is not about his policy positions.  It is that if he is returned to office we will have elected the lamest lame duck in the history of the United States.  We will have left a man in office who is incapable of leading us to meet the significant challenges before us.  We will have re-elected an extraordinarily weak leader based on his record of the last four years, who will be in an even weaker leadership position in a second term, at exactly the time we need a strong chief executive.  If this occurs I believe it could prove to be one the greatest miscalculations by the American people in our long history.

Credit: LDJackson.net

Why do I say this?

President Obama's first term has already substantially weakened his leadership position.  The fact that we are facing the fiscal cliff is Exhibit A in failed leadership.  He has utterly failed in building any bi-partisan bridges with Congress in his first term.  He likes to blame this on the Republicans in the House but he has not been any more successful with the Democratic Senate.  He has not gotten one vote for his budget in the Senate in the last two years.  Other Presidents have succeeded in getting things done with the other party. Not Obama.  It is a case study in failed leadership.

I am sure there are many people who think we will get by even though things have been, in the words of President Obama, "sub-optimal, over the last four years.  However, a second-term President Obama will be a substantially weaker President.  Why do I say that?

First, Obama has been substantially weakened in the campaign.  He took real hits to his stature in the debates.  He has started getting criticism from his own base.  The media is even starting to ask more questions.  These trends are almost certain to continue in a second term.  It is hard to lead when you are weak.  President Obama in a second term will have a fraction of the respect he had in his first term.

Second, Benghazi is probably going to hang over his head like Watergate did with Nixon.  Until we get full and complete answers, this issue will be center stage. If the Obama Administration is dealing with Benghazi it will be difficult to deal with the issues we need to.  We can only hope that this issue is not another Watergate.  Remember that the Watergate break-in was a small event but it was covered up for political purposes.  The cover-up was the story.  Benghazi sounds hauntingly familiar.  However, four Americans died and it appears they may have been left to die even though they were pleading for help.  We can only hope we are not dealing with a Watergate situation in a second Obama administration.  It would be disastrous for the country.

Third, based on recent polls, if President Obama does get re-elected he may win with a very small margin. Some even predict that he might lose the popular vote but squeak out an electoral vote majority.  This has never occurred with a sitting President.  Either of these paths lead to a President without a strong mandate and place him in an extraordinarily weak leadership position. 

A President Romney would have none of these disadvantages.  His election, like any new President, would usher in fresh optimism that would not be present with Obama.  He is not burdened with a past record of failure with Congress.  He would also not be burdened by Benghazi.  The investigation would undoubtedly continue but it would not be center stage as it will be with Obama.  Finally, a challenger who topples an incumbent by a small margin is looked at completely differently than an incumbent who barely survives.  It is all about perception. 

Forget the policies.  President Romney will be in a position to get things done.  President Obama will be in a position to get nothing done. 

This country needs a change in leadership...desperately.

I know that people wanted to place their hope with Barack Obama four years ago.  His oratory and rhetoric lifted millions.  The country was ready for change and it needed a leader worthy of the words that he so eloquently delivered in his campaign.  He had an opportunity to meet the challenge and go down in history as one of our greatest Presidents.  After all, history can produce great leaders if they rise to meet the challenge of events in their path.  Obama had the events in his path. He could have made history.  He simply could not meet the challenge.  He proved he was better at histrionics than he was at making history. He divided the country when he said he would unite it.  He squandered his enormous potential and considerable gifts...on politics rather than leadership.

Mitt Romney is our only hope.  He has proven time and time again in his lifetime that he will meet a challenge and succeed. However, the really great leaders make history and alter the course of events.  We really need to hope that Romney can not only meet the challenge but alter the course of events.

I have seen only one man in my lifetime that I can say made history by altering the course of events.  His name was Ronald Reagan.  However, on this exact date 32 years ago, the Reagan-Carter race was a dead heat.  Can anyone imagine where we would have been if Jimmy Carter had been re-elected?

It is unimaginable as we consider it today.  Re-electing Barack Obama is similarly unimaginable if you stop and really think about it.  Read this post again if you have any doubts.