Here’s the kernel of John Kass’s acerbic Chicago Tribune column on President Obama’s announcement of his intention to move against ISIS:
The president has lived all his political life on rhetorical tricks, political theater and magic. Remember, he was even applauded for telling us that he sometimes felt as if he was the empty vessel of our dreams.
All of this was made possible by another trait he learned years ago while serving his apprenticeship with the Democratic Party bosses from Chicago: avoiding direct confrontation.
That’s not leadership training. That’s political survival training. Facing the Islamic State, and trying to shore up a crumbling, tiny coalition to fight them, is different.
I think he goes too far. It isn’t that the president’s thinking is muddled. It’s that he can only lose by clarity. If he actually lays out clearly what he thinks should be done, some group or other is bound to be bitterly opposed to it.
However, that is the job.
The following is what I would call densely true. It packs the punch that gives succinct reasons why that last 6 years have been so rugged and conflicted under this President’s policies and leadership.
He’s doing what he does best: voting present.
Drew,
I remember some of your Illinois posts about how the current president was groomed and mentored for his promotion onto the national stage of politics. So, you are fully aware of how often he sidelined a definitive vote in order to maintain a non controversial record while occupying his seat-warming position in the state senate. I wonder if the man has ever made a non-political move in his life!