The vision thing

The Obama economic bill is "an epic mess". So says a panelist on the a clip over at No Quarter. (and there is finally an honest assessment of the forgettable inaugural speech. It was "basically incoherent.")

It seems from here that other than a few solid executive orders Obama's first week is not a good sign of things to come. The Democrats (my ex-party, thanks be to God.) are larding up this "immediate" stimulus package with all the crap that cause people to turn on them so abruptly. The bill will be on his desk on day 25, not day 1 as promised. It will take years to have an effect, and by then the GOP will have recovered. Oops.

Whatever Obama said during the campaign (and he said everything to everybody) the overall implication was a promise to move to what amounts to the Left. Movement. Forward Looking. Change. The Government is yours and will return to being a viable partner.

If the stimulus package becomes a free for all of orgiastic spending that amounts to nothing but debt piled on debt then nothing has changed, the government cannot and should not be trusted, and hope will disintegrate into despair - or worse.

On a basic level Obama has blown it. Or at the very least he is blowing his image as a leader of change. In fact, I don't see much "leadership" at all. The seduction of being a "moderate" neuters presidencies in times like these. We quite literally can't afford for the chief executive to allow a month to pass before his most important bill is passed. That's a month of pork ad ons. A month of compromise. A month of making everyone happy. In the end we may well get "an epic mess" that takes years to kick in. If ever.

Please note and always remember: "Reaching across the aisle" is only in vogue when a Democratic President comes into office. When the GOP wins - The President is expected to "lead", set the agenda and move on it. The establishment only finds "reaching across the aisle" appealing and then sells it to us if they feel the need to control a potential liberal. (Obama is not a liberal.)

Obama had 3 months of transition time. 3 months to knock heads together, while staying on point. A leader coming off a "change" election, with the majority the Dems racked up, has the ability and duty to say "This is how it is going to be. This is why I was elected." Reagan did. FDR did. I am not making a judgement about what those men believed. I am saying they believed something. After this week BHO is acting more like a high school football coach than a President.

Obama, who seems to have no core, has crafted a bill that attempts to contain something for everyone (everyone gets to play!) and now the legislative process is kicking in - so promises are being shaved away, people are fighting over our money, and the clock is ticking. It is profoundly disingenuous to run the most partisan campaign in living memory, win, and then lecture us about bipartisanship. What bothers me the most about Obama is not the lies and the gamesmanship abetted by the media - it is that he stands for everything and therefore stands for nothing. I simply do not trust him to know the "right thing". Can he make the difficult decisions - the ones that will anger some - the ones that make leaders? That's why the decisions on the gag rule and Gitmo were mildly inspiring. Agree or not, he pissed some people off. They sprung from a core belief.

After Palin's speech to the GOP convention I said to a friend "I don't know if she's ready to be President. I do know now I trust her to make tough choices if need be. She'll get ready in about a day and the country would survive that day." I know in my bone marrow I would probably have disagreed with her a lot. Yet, she gained my trust. I didn't like Reagan's politics either - but he was coming from conviction. Just not mine. There is no leadership without conviction.

None.

I swear we still don't know what makes Obama tick other than his ego. How can this be? He keeps saying nothing. Then repeating it.

From a political standpoint Obama's lack of core convictions (Other than happy talk about unity, can anyone state a core Obama belief?) is potentially ruinous for his party and us all. We do not need a mushy "moderate" as the financial system melts. We need a leader with a core and a vision that springs from that core. Either a liberal or a conservative who understands the need for compromise when needed. Not a compromiser who believes in nothing.

I fear there is so much smoke and mirrors around Obama being a visionary leader because there is no vision.