Low Information Voters? How about a Low Information President?
There is a real possibility, a strong likelihood, that President Obama knows nothing of the nuts and bolts, the details and realities of the positions he promotes. He rides the Starship Air Force One, thrills adolescent crowds and frames himself with federal employees while orating vapid clichés dowsed in demagoguery.
He drives the fancy car but needs help filling it with gas and couldn't point to the air filter if you popped the hood. Imagery sans leadership. Celebrity is the accomplishment here, and adoration is the metric. Polls demonstrate people approve more of him and less of his execution of the responsibilities of office. This Presidency is therefore wrapped in a managed personal imagery that supersedes the measure of ability.
He speaks yet says nothing. He exists before the camera scripted to generalities and clichés. Once this is understood, we can sense there is no more. True leadership and real understanding of the issues just aren't there. Recall a few instances.
There was the Paul Ryan Obamacare summit in which Ryan began to peel back the skin on the Affordable Care Act. Ryan began reading from the bill itself, and as he did Obama's eyes glazed over. When Ryan was finished, Obama had nothing of substance to say. Dismissive and aloof, he pushed out a short narrative of banalities and bromides.
Did Obama know enough to defend his own program?
There was also the Univision interview in which Obama declared that George W. Bush began Fast and Furious back in 2007. This is inherently false. There was a similar program, granted. But, the program had ended and, by the way, the program attempted to capture gun runners. Two glaring differences. But did Obama know these facts? At first one thinks there is a twisting of the truth by the President. But, there is a strong possibility that indeed he believed what he said based on what he had been told.
Dr. Benjamin Carson revealed his version of the world and the shortfalls of Obamacare standing a few feet from the President himself. Obama's body language, as he was forced to bear witness, spoke volumes. This was the closest to an exchange between Obama and a critic of his beloved health insurance initiative to date. But there was no exchange. There was no defense. There was no telepromptered pre-authored clichéd speech to deliver.
Regarding the Benghazi incident, Obama suggested that for him to dig in and learn the details and facts of that 9/11 day would be to somehow interfere with an FBI investigation, an investigation that to date has provided nil. Wouldn't, shouldn't a President's attitude be more in the vein of "I will find out what happened and I will report back to the nation."?
He declares that he has cut over a trillion dollars, somewhere. He has been told this and it seems he believes it.
He will not engage a critic and nor defend his positions in detail. He can not apparently even engage a questioning reporter nor engage his congressional opposition. In my opinion, he couldn't last 5 minutes in a fact-driven analysis of that which he promotes. The President doesn't meet with the political opposition to initiate compromise because he simply couldn't keep up his end of the argument. His game is to broadcast insipid generalities wrapped in demagoguery and reliant on an arrangement that disallows honest questioning. Can we recall anytime that Mr. Obama had control and knowledge of the facts of an issue?
I maintain that Obama really believes that George Bush started Fast and Furious.
I maintain that Paul Ryan has read more of the Obama Care bill than the President.
I think he actually believes he has trimmed over 1 Trillion dollars from the budget and that the sequestration is a "real" cut rather than merely a trimming of the rate of increase in federal spending.
The president operates only on the information he is given. That is understandable. But does he sense that perhaps his information is flawed? Does he care? Not likely.
Obama's non-engagement and aversion to compromise is actually seated in his complete lack of knowledge, and therefore inability to defend his agenda or even forge a compromise. He is inactive in leadership and compromise because he simply lacks the ability and issue knowledge to lead and compromise.
It is becoming apparent that the President is purposely kept in a bubble by his handlers, protected by the aegis of screened questioning. He is merely a one trick pony with the trick being nothing but media-enabled and unrebutted declarative demagoguery delivered to fawning audiences and broadcast to the clinically under informed.