President Obama’s Longest Vacation

At least LBJ tried

There’s a humongous difference between liberals and conservatives when it comes to views on how government should work, and what’s to be done by those we elect to be in charge.  We, liberals, believe in action and activism.  We want our leaders to lead, and to do so daringly.  Conservatives to the contrary, believe in doing nothing — unless it’s waging a war somewhere.  Conservatives are dismissive of Wall Street running wild and letting people, among them the most disadvantaged, fend for themselves.  Accordingly, they chose to not govern at all.  They abdicate responsibility,  They’re on a perpetual holiday.  The question is — why does President Obama also seem to be on the same long vacation?

The image of agony shown above is one of the most revealing political photographs ever taken.

The iconic 1968 image shows a thoroughly exhausted and frustrated President Lyndon B. Johnson, one of the most gifted American political leaders in this nation’s history, at his physical and mental breaking point.  Here, we see him wiped out.  He’s finished.  Done.  A few weeks after this photo was taken, LBJ announced that he would not seek re-election.

Following a flurry of bold accomplishments early in his administration which was the most ingenious and inspirational since FDR’s “New Deal,” LBJ — both the man and his presidency — were ultimately destroyed by the gross misstep of American foreign entanglement in a faraway place called Vietnam.  There’s a lesson in here somewhere for more contemporary statesmen, including our current President.  But we never learn from history, do we?  On the contrary.  We seem destined to repeat it.  Over and over again.  But, that’s another essay and debate for another time.

Beyond LBJ’s track record as a truly transformational figure in 20th Century history, what I most admired about President Johnson was his tireless work ethic.  He didn’t take extended vacations.  He didn’t play golf twice a week.  He didn’t attend many party-hack fundraisers.  LBJ worked.  Moreover, he wasn’t afraid of work.  The lights burned late at the White House almost every night and if he wasn’t meeting someone, he was working the phones.  Check the time stamp on many of his late-night telephone conversations while trying tirelessly to push through agenda items like the Civil Rights Act.

Long hours go with the job, right?  One would think so.

Well, maybe not.

Fore score and seven birdies ago….

Sadly, one doesn’t sense the midnight oil burning late in any room occupied by President Obama.  That is unless SportsCenter is still on.  He’s effectively checked out of his job and has phoned it in a long time ago.  Maybe even from day one of his second term.

Whether it’s his golf outings (81 times since his 2012 re-election), or political fundraisers (393 and counting in six years), or plenty of vacation time — the current President seems far more comfortable playing a sort of Hollywood-version of a 9 to 5, five-days-a-week Commander-in-Chief rather than actually leading and governing our nation with his heart and soul in the job.  A masterful campaigner and charismatic personality do not make for a suitable manager to oversee the executive branch.  Unfortunately, that is what we’ll ultimately remember most about the 44th President.

One senses that most Americans work a lot harder than the current President does.  I’m not talking about digging ditches kind of work.  I just mean regular people with families and job commitments.  Something’s very wrong when the owner of the typical donut shop puts in more hours each week than the President of the United States.  Whoever you talk to close to the scene — aides speaking off the record, members of the press, other political leaders — that’s pretty much the universal opinion now.  President Obama has morphed into Calvin Coolidge taking a four-year nap.

Frankly, I find President Obama’s work ethic — or lack of it — to be disgraceful.  Disappointing way beyond redemption at this point, many of us hoped the President would turn into a transformational figure — his enemy’s worst fear.  Some of us truly wanted a Socialist in office (gasp!).  Instead, we got Republican-lite on tap on permanent happy hour.  While the policies of his administration during the first two years did manage to save the world from another global depression, ever since his masterful legislative victory passing so-called “ObamaCare” nearly four years ago, the President has pretty much been AWOL — both domestically and internationally.  Perhaps that’s because much of the time he’s either out on the golf course, attending another political fundraiser, or on vacation with the family.

Moms and dads out there won’t like what I’m about to say.  But the Oval Office is no place for a man intended to be a good father and raise children.  Sorry, you can’t do both.  No one can.  Running the free world requires putting in an obscene number of hours, which means neglect of family.  I simply don’t trust a President to make a wise decision when he’s thinking about his daughter’s soccer game.  Grill me for that viewpoint if you want to — but I’m standing by it.

I also hold liberals by a higher standard.  We expect the George Bushes to play golf because their political philosophy is to pretty much let corporations run the nation.  Shareholders know best, they say.  Enough of the scraps will trickle down to the middle class and the working poor.  So, why get involved at all — unless it’s to talk about invading the next country or push through some kind of twisted social agenda.  That’s nutty conservatism in a nutshell.

See, there’s a humongous difference between liberals and conservatives when it comes to opinions on how government should work, and what’s to be done by those we elect to be in charge.  We, liberals, believe in action and activism.  We want our leaders to lead and do so daringly.  Conservatives meanwhile believe in doing absolutely nothing — unless it’s waging war.  Conservatives are content with letting Wall Street run wild and letting people, among them the disadvantaged, to fend for themselves.  Accordingly, they chose to not govern at all.  They’re on a perpetual holiday.  The question is — why does President Obama also seem to be on the same long vacation?

Even when he’s “working,” sometimes I really wonder.  Being interviewed by Zach Galifianakis doesn’t strike me as particularly statesmanlike.  Obama’s time in Washington seems dominated by social events and special White House performances by pop music stars.  Spending hours on basketball picks for March Madness every spring, sweating his bracket while millions are out of work and half the world is in flames seems terribly trite.  Let’s just say this isn’t the man I voted for.

I realize that with this essay I have crossed a dangerous demarcation over to the dark side.  Now, I join the critics, and frankly, I don’t like the stench over here.  Admittedly, President Obama’s detractors never gave him a chance and the Republican opposition has behaved in a treasonous fashion.  We should never forget the lack of leadership that Republicans have provided over the past 13 years, which enabled the rich to get richer and everyone else to struggle to hang on to jobs with little security and mortgages that are upside down.

But even with Republican opposition consistently stonewalling and the worst collection of partisan allies imaginable (with the thoroughly incompetent Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as political friends, who needs enemies?), President Obama could and should do so much more.  An article in The Guardian a few weeks ago written by Matt K. Lewis pretty much sums up the problem with this administration:

Consider this:  In recent days, a) Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, apparently by Russian separatists in Ukraine, b) In the Gaza strip, the numbers killed continued to mount as Israelis and Palestinians exchange rocket fire, c) a huge influx of children fleeing Central American poverty and gang warfare swamped America’s southern border, creating a humanitarian crisis. And, oh yeah, d) Christians living in Mosul were given the choice to either convert to Islam or flee the area they have inhabited for nearly two thousand years.  You know what else has happened during this time? a) Obama played many rounds of golf, b) he attended numerous fund-raisers, c) he dined on barbecue in Texas and burgers in Delaware, and d) he almost appeared on the comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night television show in Hollywood.

That’s basically it.  He’s become a guest sidekick to Jimmy Kimmel.  He only goes to places where he’s adored.  He avoids challenges.  He runs away from confrontation.  He’s far more comfortable telling jokes and getting a few laughs on talk shows watched mostly by people with no connection to the political process, most of whom don’t even bother to vote.

Once upon a time, President Obama was given a rare chance to change America and potentially re-shape the political narrative in favor of a real change.  He could have championed a liberal agenda that helps the vast majority of Americans.  Instead of stepping up to the challenge and trying, apparently, he had other priorities.  A once-in-a-generation opportunity has now been lost.  And the great tragedy is — many Americans will blame liberals for inaction and ineptitude when the frightening fact is — President Obama has governed as a conservative (especially in his second term).

If the President has any intentions of changing these fears and perceptions as lazy, that will have to wait.  At least for a while.  This weekend, President Obama left Washington for Martha’s Vineyard where he will spend the next two weeks — on vacation.  Originally scheduled as a three-week getaway, the President recently backed off from that in the face of criticism within his own administration.  So, he’ll be away for just two weeks.  But whether it’s two weeks, two months, or two years, it doesn’t matter.  The spirit and enthusiasm of a would-be leader is long gone.

Take a long look at the photograph of LBJ photograph again.  That’s we liberals, now reflecting upon the opportunity now lost, faith destroyed, and the ultimate betrayal by someone we thought was going to be a fighter.

Presidential priorities?