Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek has written a new book, Kill or Capture, about the Obama administration's anti-terror policies, containing much information that obviously came from insiders, some of which is now the subject of demands for a special prosecutor to investigate leaks. In a review of the book in the Wall Street Journal, Mark Moyar quotes a passage that is frighteningly illuminating about the management style of the man upon whom our national security depends:

In one of his most telling passages, Mr. Klaidman depicts a passive commander in chief who often procrastinated in the hopes that problems would go away, a sharp divergence from the engaged and proactive president of the official narrative. "The president's own elusiveness created confusion about who was in control of policy," Mr. Klaidman writes. "In this vacuum his advisers fought brutally, each side invoking the president in support of its cause."

This seems to epxlain the president's policy toward Iran. It also explains why we should be frightened about his ability to contain the threat to our survival posed by Iranian nuclear arms.

Obama's passivity and dilatory approach towards decision-making gave rise to the characterization that he tended to vote "present" when he was a legislator in Illinois.  When he became president, his fear of making decisions led one of his own advisers to sum up his foreign and national security policy as one of "leading from behind" -- how far we have come since John Kennedy's stirring words!

Perhaps this is a reflection of his refusal to listen to experts -- and to rely on himself and a small circle of "advisers" from Cook County who are sorely lacking in experience themselves. According to a recent Vanity Fair article, he's a "total introvert" and "he doesn't need people."  For some odd reasons he seems dependent on Valerie Jarrett -- a person he admits he runs all his decisions through.  He also seems to have outsourced decision-making to the likes of political strategist David Plouffe and David Axlerod (Axelrod, for example, attended meetings between Obama and Israeli leaders and attended Oval Office meetings when Obama compiled his "kill list" of drone targets). This troika has zero geopolitical experience.