When Barack Obama was running for resident, we were told by his coterie of flaks, sycophants, spinners, and devout acolytes that he represented the ultimate intellectual strength that could be packed into a single human being.

Like the Wizard of Oz, he knew all, he saw all, he could do all. Remember when we were told that he knew more about policy than his policy advisors, more about... well everything, and knew it better than anyone else?

Although Barack Obama disdains all things military, he does emulate one aspect of the armed forces of this nation to a fare-thee-well. He is the human embodiment of a "fire-and-forget" missile. He divines a problem, announces in soaring rhetoric that it will be solved (without adding a single dime to the deficit) and then apparently forgets all about it. He informally delegates everything to his subordinates, even though by his own estimation, they know far less than he does about whatever the issue-du-jour happens to be, and then emulates Pontius Pilate, and washes his hands of it.

There are those who think that Obama is breaking new ground in treating all issues, such as the lack of jobs in our nation, as being solvable by merely giving a speech. They for some reason believe that an Obama oration will inspire business people and entrepreneurs to create jobs (that they don't require for their businesses) while willingly incurring increased taxes associated with those jobs (see: Obamacare) and then also inspiring others who are living on welfare, unemployment, foods stamps and so on to give all that up in order to take those jobs.
But Barack Hussein Obama is not, in fact, doing anything that hasn't been done before. In fact, the sitting secretary of state for an earlier Progressive president noted his reaction to his the oratory of his boss when he wrote:

These phrases will certainly come home to roost and cause much vexation. The President is a phrase-maker par excellence. He admires trite sayings and revels in formulating them. But when it comes to their practical application he is so vague that their worth may well be doubted. He apparently never thought out in advance where they would lead or how they would be interpreted by others. In fact he does not seem to care so that his words sound well. The gift of clever phrasing may be a curse unless the phrases are put to the test of sound, practical application before being uttered.

The secretary of state? Robert Lansing, and no, Robert Lansing is not a familiar name today. The President of the United States that was his boss is somewhat more well-known: Woodrow Wilson.

Apparently this is a common trait among presidents of the Progressive persuasion. FDR, for instance, coined phrases such as "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Glorious words. Soaring rhetoric. Meaningless drivel. You decide. It did nothing to end the Great Depression, but it certainly sounded good.

Perhaps Mr. Obama could take a few minutes out of his hectic schedule (that short period between vacations) to have his secretary transcribe the words he speaks so eloquently, and identify what goals he has stated as his newest policy initiative, and ask to whom will each be delegated.

Periodically, his secretary could then draft a memo reminding the Great One to check in with the lucky cabinet secretary who is supposedly guiding the implementation of this new policy, program, committee, or whatever it was, so that our president might stick his head in that office once in a while to inquire: "So, how's that new policy working out for us?" It would just be a simple, low-tech, old school follow-up file.

If nothing else, it would eliminate Barry's embarrassment when he has to admit that the first he heard about a problem was when he heard about it on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC or CBS.

Jim Yardley is a retired financial controller, a two-tour Vietnam veteran and writes frequently about political idiocy, business and economic idiocy and American cultural idiocy. Jim also blogs at http://jimyardley.wordpress.com/, and can be contacted directly at james.v.yardley@gmail.com