John Davis Consulting

Part V: Liability 10

“What’s disappointing to me,” said Stupak, “is learning that Toyota seems to have focused more on discrediting its critics than on solving the problem.” Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, May 20, 2010, U.S. House Commerce Committee Hearing on Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems[i]

Obama: Walking on Oily Water in a Sea of Disappointments

Obama’s inspiring oratory and hopeful message of change during the 2008 presidential race moved tens of millions from every walk of life to believe that he would be different; that he would be far greater than his predecessor.

And certainly President Obama would be able to manage a disaster better than the way President Bush handled Katrina.  But now, in the aftermath of a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf, what we see is a vulnerable and defensive leader with approval ratings plummeting to new lows.[ii]

North Carolina Democrats were counting on President Obama to inspire the winning difference in 2010 as he did in 2008.  Instead, what they have is just another bumbling president betrayed by his gift for gab … a mere mortal walking on oily water in a sea of disappointments.

Obama Disappoints: Average Weekly Job Approval Reaches All-Time Low in June

The great hope for change in Washington has been reduced to great disappointments following political disaster after political disaster.  It’s little wonder that President Obama’s job approval rating is only 44%, a 52-week low.  According to Gallup, Obama’s weekly average job approval has reached a new low as well, 46%, from a weekly average of 65% this time a year ago.[iii]

• He ran as a man of great courage but has become a defensive scapegoater
• He ran as a friend of the environmentalists but authorized more offshore drilling
• He ran as a dove but has morphed into a hawk on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• He ran as a uniter but has become a partisan wrecking ball with his legislative agenda
• He ran as a centrist but is governing as a liberal surrounded by liberals
• He ran as a man of the people but put his priority, healthcare, ahead of their priority, jobs
• He ran as a man who would close Gitmo and would not hire lobbyists … ha!
• He ran as a leader committed to fiscal responsibility but is overseeing a doubling of the national debt (projected at $19 trillion by 2015); “unsustainable” said Bernanke 6/10
• He ran against Wall Street but recapitalized their bonuses with taxpayer money
• He ran as an economic and jobs stimulator but unemployment/underemployment is still at 20%,[iv] with almost all of the new jobs in May being temporary with the Census Bureau
• He said his would be the most transparent administration in history yet he manages the news media with connivances, stonewalling and defensive double-speak

Obama would be well served to closet himself for a while at the White House and ponder Ralph Waldo Emerson’s sage caution, “What you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.”

Where’s the Unlimited Money? The Paid Staff? The Enthusiastic Volunteers?