Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A Rookie President


by Thomas Sowell

Someone once said that, for every rookie you have on your starting team in the National Football League, you will lose a game. Somewhere, at some time during the season, a rookie will make a mistake that will cost you a game.

We now have a rookie President of the United States and, in the dangerous world we live in, with terrorist nations going nuclear, just one rookie mistake can bring disaster down on this generation and generations yet to come.

Barack Obama is a rookie in a sense that few other Presidents in American history have ever been. It is not just that he has never been President before. He has never had any position of major executive responsibility in any kind of organization where he was personally responsible for the outcome.

Other first-term Presidents have been governors, generals, cabinet members or others in positions of personal responsibility. A few have been senators, like Barack Obama, but usually for longer than Obama, and had not spent half their few years in the senate running for President.

What is even worse than making mistakes is having sycophants telling you that you are doing fine when you are not. In addition to all the usual hangers-on and supplicants for government favors that every President has, Barack Obama has a media that will see no evil, hear no evil and certainly speak no evil.

They will cheer him on, no matter what he does, short of first-degree murder-- and they would make excuses for that. Even former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan has gushed over President Obama and even crusty Bill O'Reilly has been impressed by Obama's demeanor.
There is no sign that President Obama has impressed the Russians, the Iranians or the North Koreans, except by his rookie mistakes-- and that is a dangerous way to impress dangerous people.

Read it all here:


For a list of Dr. Sowell's excellent books on economics, culture, race and politics, and archives of his columns, go to:





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7 comments:

  1. G.A.RoweApril 1, 2009 at 1:49 AM

    Just a "little" mistake? The dissing of Isreal and Great Britain was no little mistake! That was a loud and clear message to any country that we are allied with that the United States will no longer stand by those nations that have stood by us for so long.

    In essence it says; You are on your own,now, we want to be friends with your enemies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RonApril 1, 2009 at 5:57 AM

    I can see that you and I have a similar appreciation for Dr. Sowell's writings. See my blog -- http://thenewlosers.blogspot.com/ -- He's getting published all over the net ;-)
    Best wishes,
    Ron

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mad MomApril 1, 2009 at 8:08 AM

    I completely agree. It's like he is the devi himself; those who meet him seem to be hyponotized by his charisma. That's the only explanation I can give for O'Reilly. He seems blinded to this man's intentions and agenda. Maybe he's tying to hedge his bets and overplay the fairness thing. But the fewer voices that alert the public to Obama's mistakes and intentions, the more danger he will put us in.

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  4. Not a cheerleaderApril 1, 2009 at 9:07 AM

    Dr. Sowell -- As I watched the news this morning about the uprisings in London, I was overwhelmed by the fear that has to be felt by Obama. The phrase - he is in over his head - kept going through my mind. He should be very frightened and I wondered how he can even sleep. Your classification of him being a rookie encapsulated what I was feeling. Unfortunately his "A-game" is nothing more than more campaign rhetoric and that will not move the ball down the field. We have a junior varsity freshman leading us. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

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  5. AnonymousApril 1, 2009 at 10:26 AM

    The guy let his mother-in-law move into the house. That says it all for me. (I am a woman.)

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  6. CrustyrustyApril 1, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    Geez, Dr. Sowell ought to be President...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jacob F. RoeckerApril 6, 2009 at 9:43 PM

    Sir,

    May I ask you to post a blog entry and use this video? I'd appreciate your attention, as well as your constructive criticism regarding this project:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g2FtCXpa9A&feature=player_embedded

    http://912candidates.org

    Thank you.

    -Jacob

    ReplyDelete

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