Unbridled Arrogance

Barack Obama is supremely smug and arrogant. This smug arrogance has grown to such an extent that it’s led to delusional perception of reality. Throughout his life, Obama has been told how smart and how special he is so many times -with an exponential increase in intensity in the past 36 months - that I think he honestly believes it now. We have seen this demonstrated repeatedly in his time as President, as if he thinks his very presence will actually do things like convince the International Olympic Committee to hold the 2016 Olympics in Chicago, solve the healthcare debate, and stop Iran from trying to acquire nukes.

As for being the head of state, It's almost as if he holds the duties of the Presidency, the White House, and the American people, in contempt. As if all of this is “beneath” him. I get the distinct impression that he views his job as not just a terrific burden, but as an inconvenience as well. It is a burden of course, every President will attest to that, but every other President would also call it a noble burden, whereas Obama sees it as a distasteful and loathsome burden.

A few days ago I found myself watching a news report on how he had to interrupt his precious vacation (6th, for the record) to take a conference call with economic “geniuses” Tim Geitner and Larry Summers about the economy (that they‘re all doing such a great job of expanding), and I would be willing to bet that Obama thinks we should thank him for taking the time out of his day - on his vacation (!), no less - to deal with our problems. "We really owe you for that one, Barry!"
His arrogance is truly incredible to behold; it knows NO bounds. That level of arrogance is the cause of much of his unusual behavior - ZERO press conferences for more than 10 months (why should someone as brilliant as he need to explain himself to all of us knuckle-dragging Americans, desperately clinging to our guns and religion?), the ceaseless vacations, the 50 rounds of golf, leaving the White House at every opportunity, and creating as many of those opportunities as possible.
　
To borrow a line, what we have here is the first President not to be awed by the office. He acts like the office should be awed by him. 2012 can not come soon enough.

Obama's Favorite Mosque

At a Ramadan celebration dinner this Friday, President Obama announced his full support for the proposed construction of a mosque in the shadow of the former World Trade Center in New York City. This is about par for the course for America’s most anti-American president. Here we have yet another issue in which Barack Hussein Obama is diametrically opposed to the overwhelming opinion of the American people.
I suppose we should be thankful in some small way that Obama is expressing his true opinions on matters such as this, instead of lying to us. Truthfulness, however, does nothing to make his opinions any less disgusting and abhorrent.
The “cover story” justifying the construction of a mosque at Ground Zero in Manhattan is the desire for “Muslim outreach” and to “bridge the gaps” between cultures. This is both laughable and insulting. A farce! Lip service and nothing more.
In all my life I have never heard of a group “bridging gaps” between itself and another culture by offending that culture to its very core - especially when that offense involves disrespecting the memory of innocent members of the latter culture who were savagely murdered by outlying members of the former culture!
A mosque in such close proximity to where the World Trade Center once stood is an insult aimed at the very heart of America and should be rightly regarded as such. The primary purpose of a mosque is to serve the local Muslim community, yet there isn’t much of community near this mosque, as it is located in the heart of Manhattan’s commercial district. If there is no community, why build a mosque? The mosque’s proponents will not bring up the fact that historically mosques have also served a secondary purpose, and that purpose is to serve as a victory flag announcing to all who see it, “Let it be known that at this site, warriors of Islam were victorious over the infidel!” Apparently that’s the kind of statement that B. Hussein Obama can get behind!

Elena Kagan, Solicitor General, has been confirmed by the Senate to serve as an Associate Justice of the highest court in the nation. Ms. Kagan was previously a policy advisor and Associate White House Council in the Clinton Administration, and most recently Dean of Harvard Law School. While there can be no disputing that she has considerable experience in the court room, as a judge she has no experience to speak of.

From what is known of the Solicitor General, one can deduce that her political opinions running roughly parallel to that of President Obama. Her views lean to the left, and also like Obama, she is quite proud of her beliefs. Many on the conservative side of the spectrum view excessively liberal judges (liberal social activist judges, more specifically) with an anxiously watchful eye; continuously searching for signs of policy creation rather than policy interpretation. They view such activism as a corruption of our system of checks and balances, and a grave threat to the liberty and freedom they hold so dearly. A fair amount of this concern is unfounded - there have been liberal judges as long as there have been liberals willing to elect or appoint them to their respective judgeships, and our system of government has largely survived intact. Be that as it may, danger does exist in this appointment and others, but it lies elsewhere. The real danger is borne out through the fact that Ms. Kagan has never before been a judge in any court. She has precisely zero experience and zero mental training in the difficult task of separating her personal beliefs and life-long convictions from objective adjudication.

Any self-respecting and honorable judges strive daily to maintain their objectivity, if not continuously improve it. Objective interpretation of the law - in this case the Constitution of the United States - is the badge of honor distinguishing a judge worthy of his or her gavel. Such a skill is not acquired overnight. Considering that, how could we possibly expect to see such a difficult to acquire trait exhibited by a person who has no prior experience as a judge? We’d be foolish to demand such and even more foolish to expect it. We could no sooner expect a person who has never before played a round of golf to one day suddenly make the cut for the PGA Tour! That’s just not how things work in the real world.

So with that said, when we examine Elena Kagan’s worthiness for a life-long appointment to the Supreme Court, it is not her personal beliefs that should give us pause, but her inability (as a normal human being lacking decades of mental training and practice) to effectively separate her personal beliefs from her legal rulings and interpretations. Separating one’s feelings from one’s interpretation of a law is a most unnatural act. Only through many years of practice can such a skill truly be refined to any reliable degree.

Academic or Common Sense?

　
I have come to the firm conclusion that having an academic “intellectual” as Commander in Chief is HIGHLY over-rated. I would instead prefer to have a GED education level possessing Commander in Chief with a reasonable amount of common sense over one considered an “intellectual elite”. Academics by nature exist in the realm of the abstract, relying almost exclusively on theory and supposition; whereas those of common sense exist in reality, relying almost exclusively on personal experience. This is not to say academics have no place within the nerve center of government. They are terrific advisors, but totally ineffective leaders.
Try to think of it this way : Imagine you are trapped in a building that has caught on fire. Who would you want to lead the effort to rescue you? Would you want a person with a Ph. D. in Chemistry, specializing in thermodynamics, who is thoroughly versed in all science and theory pertaining to the properties and behavior of combustion and heat energy, OR would you prefer being rescued by a fire chief who has many years of personal experience fighting fires? I have a feeling that I know your answer. As such, it has been my experience in life that academic knowledge almost ALWAYS pales in comparison to wisdom acquired by genuine experience.
I can think of no better example of a healthy amount of common sense making for an excellent leader than President Harry S. Truman. Harry Truman won World War II, helped for the United Nations, oversaw the reconstruction of Europe following the war, prevented an economic crisis during the transformation from a wartime economy to a peacetime one, held the line in Korea, and Presided over numerous other impressive accomplishments. President Truman did all of this without having spent a single day enrolled in college!
One does not need academic intelligence to be a great leader; nor does having considerable academic intelligence ensure that one will be a good leader, but if one lacks experience and common sense, it is all but certain that that person will prove to be an exceptionally poor leader.