Jonathan Bernstein, no particular foe of President Obama lays out the case for something I’ve been saying for some time—that Barack Obama doesn’t particularly care for the job of president:
President Barack Obama’s grade as top manager of the executive branch continues to sink. At this point, a C- would be generous.
Cases of mismanagement at the agency level include:
- The Office of Personnel Management computer hack;
- The Snowden theft from the National Security Agency;
- The Department of Veterans Affairs scheduling fiasco;
- The healthcare.gov rollout;
- Unending problems at the Secret Service.
I think I disagree with him that the IRS’s acknowledged malfeasance is a “marginal case”. I think it’s a perfect exemplar of an agency running amok. And I’d add the security failure at the IRS to his list.
The key point is that none of these is just a Republican talking point. They’re all unforced errors.
It’s inevitable that any organization as large and bureaucratic as the federal government will develop a sort of resistance to efficiency or even simple competence. That doesn’t mean that presidents should be excused for the various management failures but that the job of president gets harder and harder all of the time.
The key point is that none of these is just a Republican talking point. They’re all unforced errors.
One must see through the gauze of their own party affiliation and/or ideology in order to see that Dave, let alone point it out like you’re apparently able to do. Most, though, have their needle stuck on their party affiliation, with democrats rigidly standing ground saying that such a negative analysis is due to the right wing ganging up on Obama. And, the republicans respond by flailing around, in their attempts to deflect such claims, but doing little to actively rectify them.
In the meantime the public is subjected to all the twists, turns, delays, and ill effects the roll-out and selective implementation that Obamacare has had on healthcare delivery and costs. Our security has been repeatedly compromised. Our foreign policy is in shreds. Economic opportunities are either non-existent or limited for most, except for the very rich and the stock market. And now we have the upcoming Iranian deal, said to be announced this Monday, despite Congressional and public weariness over it, and despite the negotiation weaknesses that continue to plague it.
Basically, there is no end in sight of failed and flawed policies ruling the day, being so many continue to process what may be life-changing events charitably or nonchalantly, through party allegiance rather than an informed understanding of their long term impact.