The Wrong One
18 July 2009
– by Mike Murray
I am no fan of Hillary Rodham Clinton. I believe that she would have made something less – something considerably less – than a stellar president. She is, in the euphemistic parlance of the day, extremely “self directed.” Just as her husband Bill does of himself, Hillary thinks a great deal of herself. Had she attained the Oval Office, I am convinced that she would have become insufferably smug.
Granted, Hillary has much to recommend her. She is possessed of above-average intelligence. As young Hillary Rodham, she was a good student. Studied hard, got high marks. Graduated with honors. Earned college and law degrees. For decades, she expertly played the politician’s wife – and was deemed “an asset” to Bill Clinton’s burgeoning career. And, no question, she put up with a great deal along the way – serving, as she did, as the “better half” of a skirt-chasing lout.
Nevertheless, she owes the entirety of her political career to her unfaithful husband. Because, absent an association to Bill, we would never have heard of Hillary. America is chock full of bright people who never achieve fame. They toil away, move up some career ladder – corporate or non-profit – and lead reasonably successful, fulfilling lives. But widespread acclaim eludes them. In all probability, it would have eluded Hillary.
She might have become a law-school dean or a college president. But how many of those can you name? One thing is certain: Hillary would have been incapable of reaching the heights in the for-profit world. Consider that, as a lawyer, she received Herculean help from her Attorney General (and then Governor) husband – yet still struggled to land clients for her firm.
No, if she hadn’t been the abused wife of a philandering president, Hillary would never have become notable. She would never have been elected to the U.S. Senate, never have gained credibility as a serious contender for the highest public office in the land.
But she did. And, early on during her run for the Democratic nomination, I rooted against her. For all the reasons enumerated above (plus a few more) I thought she would have made a poor leader of America’s executive branch of government – wrong-headed on domestic and foreign policy, sub-standard as a commander-in-chief. I still feel that way.
Just the same, I have to say it: Hillary Rodham Clinton would have been a far better president than is Barack Hussein Obama. We can only speculate about Hillary. But when it comes to Barack, the truth has been revealed: He is ill-suited to the job.
Oh, sure: Obama is a heck of a campaigner. I’m not talking about the pithy speeches (written by others, delivered by him via teleprompter). Those are already getting stale. I’m talking about organization. When it comes to ingratiating oneself to accumulations of people – unions, community groups, etc. – that can be counted on to perform the grunt work, Obama and his consorts are nearly unparalleled. (Although the promise to pay off later like a rigged slot machine sure helps grease the skids.)
But when it comes to governing, Obama fails. Miserably. (By his own reckoning, however, running the executive branch of America’s federal government is a piece of cake. It comes, he says, “naturally” to him. Which indicates that he is delusional as well as inept.) Because Obama seems to think that winning an election – and only by only a few percentage points, at that – has conferred upon him emperor status. He labors under the illusion that we Americans have empowered him to do pretty much whatever he wants. Checks and balances? Constitutional limits? He acts as if those are mere suggestions. He thinks them impermanent, subject to change.
They are. But not by presidential fiat. You’d think that someone who graduated from Harvard Law School would know that. And, of course, he does. It’s just that “The One” – deified by some within his political party and nearly all occupants of the mainstream media – feels unfettered by rules that constrain mere mortals.
And that’s a very dangerous thing for any republic. Certainly, it is for America. That misguided notion has led Obama to act as if we all (including members of Congress) work for him. It emboldens him to set arbitrary “deadlines.” He successfully convinced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for example, that a mega-stimulus package needed to be approved – without deliberation – within a matter of only a few days.
Republicans who complained that insufficient time had been allotted for the reading of the document – and virtually none for debate of the measure it represented – were summarily dismissed by Democrats who held substantial majorities in both houses of Congress.
Emperor Obama? He took his wife on a long weekend visit to Chicago. Ate out. Took life slow. And, to much pomp and circumstance following his mini-vacation, finally got around to signing the “urgent” legislation. Such is the sorry state of affairs in our once-great nation that few in the media were perturbed. Instead, it was reverently reported that, upon returning to D.C., Barack took Michelle for a romantic stroll around the White House grounds! (It is the world’s great fortune that a staff photographer just happened to be on hand to capture the historic moment – historic moment number 512 of the Obama presidency – for posterity.)
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, serious journalism in America is dead. Already in critical condition, the election of Barack Obama drove the final nail into its coffin. The old Soviet Union had Pravda. Here in the good old U.S. of A., we’ve got The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, et al. When it comes to slavishly serving a megalomaniac, members of America’s establishment media take a back seat to no one.
Which bring us to health-care “reform.” His Oneness has set another deadline: the August Congressional recess. He wants ready-to-sign legislation on his desk by then. Forget the fact that the details of any such plan are sketchy – and are deeply troubling to many. Also set aside the fact that Congress is a co-equal branch of the federal government, and not subject to presidential orders. Emperor Obama has demanded that Congressmen and Congresswomen jump.
I wonder: Will they again ask, “How high?” Or will they (at long last) grow spines and assert themselves? The matter transcends party affiliation. Any dramatic change to health care in America will have profound, lasting, and potentially harmful impact. No way should its formulation – or potential enactment – be rushed.
And, no way should a president be permitted to so outrageously overstep the boundaries of his authority. It is long-past time for American citizens to remind Barack Obama who, exactly, works for whom. As arrogant a president as Hillary Clinton might have been, she (surely) would have been less insufferable than President Barack Obama has proven himself to be. I have been observing American presidents for nearly a half-century now, and I have never before witnessed such hubris.
For a brief moment during the primary season, I wondered if Obama might be the pick of the litter among Democrats. He talked a good game. But it didn’t take me long to come to my senses. When I considered the experience levels, temperaments, and policy positions of the respective candidates, I soon ruled out both Barack Obama and John Edwards. While I preferred John McCain to all of the Democrats, I deemed Clinton the least objectionable among those who leaned left of center. Obama, I ultimately concluded, would be a disaster.
Nothing Obama has done in the first six months on the job has disabused me of that notion. He is, in my judgment, a terrible president. Terrible in substance, terrible in style. With the help of a compliant Congress, he is quickly spending America into oblivion. He says the national debt “keeps me awake at night.” His solution to that daunting problem? Spend more. Lots more. If Obama were a firefighter who had arrived at the scene of a raging fire, he would – no doubt – propose dousing the flames with gasoline.
Obama is either incredibly stupid or trying to ruin America.
Moreover, he treats our staunchest allies shabbily and lavishes praise upon those who wish us harm. He is cold to legitimate leaders, warm to tyrants. He considers peaceful protesters here at home (the ones who dissent from his views) to be “low-level terrorists.” He tramples all over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Quite simply, Barack Obama is the worst president I have ever observed. It is not even close for second. No one, not even Richard Nixon, was as uptight, as controlling. The outer cool that Obama exudes is an illusion. The inner Barack – the real Barack – is wound tighter than a drum. He is obsessed with amassing power, and with punishing those who dare oppose him.
Granted, John McCain ran an uninspiring campaign. Another nominee might have done better. But the political climate in 2008 did not favor Republicans. It was probably inevitable that a Democrat was going to win the White House.
To the chagrin of many, the wrong one did.
Copyright © 2009 Michael F. Murray All rights reserved.
