PrintOctober 3, 2009
The Sullied Savior Blames Bush
In May of 2008, Times Online ran an article entitled, Barack Obama: the New Great Redeemer. The author, Gerard Baker, recognized something many American voters at that time were unwilling to admit, which was,
The idolatry of Mr. Obama is a shame...The Illinois senator is indeed, an unusually talented, inspiring and charismatic figure...But he is not a saint. He is a smart and eloquent man with a personal history that is startlingly shallow set against the scale of the office he seeks to hold... If the past 40 years have taught us anything they have surely taught that premature canonization is an almost certain guarantee of subsequent deep disappointment.
Nine months later, Americans are finding their savior has feet of clay. Foible after foible, Obama is proving to be unable to fulfill his own messianic expectations. Even more disturbing is Obama's "startlingly shallow" unwillingness to man up to his policy failures or decline to comment when presented with an opportunity to blame George W. Bush. Thus, the eloquent gift that catapulted Obama to stratospheric heights of power is fast becoming a political liability exposing him as both an unprincipled person and leader.
In his first speech before the UN General Assembly, Obama self-righteously preached, "Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles, and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions. Anybody can do that. Responsibility and leadership in the 21st century demands more." When away from the podium, however, Obama is the embodiment of hypocritical disappointment, never failing to shift blame for his lack of ability to an undeserving predecessor. It appears the more he talks the more it is apparent that, unlike George W. Bush, there is a glaring disconnect between what the President says and what he does.
Obama began charging Bush in the run up to the election holding him responsible for the economic downturn to the delight of doting crowds. Exploiting the crisis to his own advantage, Obama incessantly pointed out Bush's "irresponsible decisions" as being responsible for the global fiscal crisis. Early on, the White House website also highlighted the, "...broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast" after Katrina. Not satisfied with merely defining the former president as untrustworthy, Obama sought to elevate his ability to run the entire nation by comparing himself to the "unconscionable ineptitude" of the Bush Administration.
Subsequently, for nine months Obama has continued the campaign by blaming Bush for his own blunders portraying himself as a victimized successor of what he calls Bush's " misguided experiment." Obama points the finger at Bush for everything from torture to bailouts, job losses to even accusing him of writing GM and Chrysler a "blank check."
In a NY Times interview, Obama, responded to controversial questions about his leftist ideology by deflecting his own socialistic proclivity onto the former Executive. He skirted inquiries by bringing up, "large-scale government intervention ...and the expansion of social welfare programs begun under ... George W. Bush." Not stopping there, Obama cited his own extraordinary measures were "...not indications of ideological preference, but of ... lax regulation and extravagant risk taking precipitating the crisis."
Persistently faulting Bush for leaving behind what he calls a "fiscal disaster," Obama blames the ex-president for the record $1.75 trillion budget deficit for which he, not Bush, is largely responsible. In an extremely clever attempt to exonerate his legacy from future "blame" Obama, said, "... our investments to rescue the nation's economy will add to that deficit." After spending about $1 trillion in nine months Obama presents a laughable spin on economic accountability saying, "We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration or the next generation." It will be interesting to see whom Obama blames for the $9 trillion deficit increase even his own administration officials predict will accrue over the next ten years.
Obama "absolves" himself from his own failed stimulus package and direct contributions to a dismal +2% increase in double-digit unemployment. Before audiences Obama ardently adheres to the belief that we should never, "absolve ourselves of responsibility for our choices and actions." But after leaving the lectern, he continues to attempt to bolster lagging poll numbers by shifting fault onto Bush for the historic decline in US employment. University of Minnesota political scientist, Lawrence Jacobs believes that, "What the administration is involved in now is the politics of attribution...Each week that goes by with falling job numbers and Republican criticism of the administration's flaws means falling approval ratings. What's the antidote? That the guilty party is George Bush."
Obama's relentless effort to promote his own superiority by humiliating Bush reaches beyond the borders of this nation. Pitiless toward his Presidential colleague Obama tolerates authoritarian dictators like Castro, Chavez, Ortega, and Ahmadinejad, and then bashes Bush before audiences who claimed to smell sulphur when he was in the room. The thought of a sitting President blaming a former President, on the world stage, for relinquishing American values and failing to live by example is not only scurrilous but borders on scandalous.
Times Online author Gerard Baker's forecast of the, "guarantee of subsequent deep disappointment" was fully realized when Obama began suggesting Bush's "failed war" created, "... more terrorists around the world than it ever detained." Obama's attempt to garner global acceptance by accusing Bush of torture and combating extremism outside the rule of law has excused from culpability despots who sponsor worldwide terror. Totally unfazed that his words offer absolution to oppressive regimes, Obama continues to draw and quarter Bush in the international square for things like Constitutional violations, setting aside "principles," and "failing to use our values as a compass."
Recently, Presidential spokesperson Robert Gibbs took the spotlight off the seething Afghani boil on the end of Obama's nose and directed it toward an obscure hair follicle saying, "This war was under resourced, underfunded, undermanned and ignored for years." Having good ‘ole fall guy Georgie around is a handy resource Obama obviously appreciates. While urging world leaders to resist shifting blame from themselves to others, Obama exempts himself by exploiting Bush for his own broken campaign pledges and failed war effort in Afghanistan.
A Fox News and Opinion Dynamics survey showed that by "...more than 3-to-1 Americans think it is time for the Obama administration to start taking responsibility instead of continuing to blame the Bush administration." Regrettably, based on Obama's disingenuous nature, his incessant barrage of Bush blame-laden statements, and his unending attempt to exonerate his standing, shows he has no interest in stopping.
Barack Obama lacks the self-awareness to identify the hypocrisy of his personal attacks on George W. Bush. He also fails to recognize that Bush's perceived "failed presidency" pales in comparison to the glaring character flaw exposed every time an unsuccessful savior attempts to divert attention from his own incompetency at the expense of someone else.
Author's content: jeannie-ology.com
