One of the very real criticisms of Barack Obama by his detractors is his seeming inability to make a decision about anything. This should come as no surprise seeing in his abbreviated term in the U.S. Senate he rarely ever decided anything, preferring to vote 'Present' on the order of 200 times. On those rare occasions when Obama does make a decision, the process is almost guaranteed to be protracted and that stalling process is pretty much the result of Obama getting too much input, hearing too many opinions, weighing too many options, considering far too many variables. Or is he just not as smart as we were lead to believe?
For democrats, delay, procrastination, indecision, obfuscation, is all part of the Grand illusion of The Great Man of History tragically wrestling with the problems of the day, and the 'Burdens of the Oval Office', which when juxtaposed against black-and-white photos and tinny music is supposed to represent the idealized vision and drama of 'Leadership'. But turns out it's really a mental handicap.
I have been told people who behave this way usually have a serious problem with confidence. Not making decisions is the first indication. Going through a laborious and overwrought process in which all of your attention is focused the on details, no matter how small, is the second indication. People who can never have enough input, can never stop considering putting more and more variables into the decision-making process are not being decisive; they're simply collecting or creating more excuses to not make any decision whatsoever.
While we certainly do not want a Chief Executive who makes hasty, and poorly thought through decisions, neither do want one who dithers over the process, or who burdens himself with too many options. We want, we need, someone to lead. The process of leading requires that the Leader make decisions, surely with the best available information and facts at his command, but not burdened by the fear that the pettiest detail and remotest possibility will always be that one thing you forgot that finally bites you on the ass.
I can understand why Obama is burdened with this particular handicap. He came into office, I think, never having expected to have won in the first place. His experiences in life never prepared him for the reality of having to make the sort of decisions a President in his predicament has to make (to be fair, I don't know what sort of experience, short of the battlefield, can prepare anyone for that sort of thing). I don't think he ever put his name on a piece of legislation while in the Senate, never voiced an opinion until he was certain he knew how it would be received, and he never held a private-sector job in his life.
I'd even go as far as to say that Barack Obama is probably the best example of a poster child for the mollycoddled-advanced-beyond-his-abilities-all-shortcomings-get-papered-over-socially-promoted-Affirmative-Action-Achiever. And I bet the The First Lady lays out his clothes for him in the morning.
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Yup, you know who wears the pants in that family.
ReplyDeleteI worked for a General Service Manager in a GMC non-automotive division that used the same decision making process. He would wait for the problem to solve itself, disappear or for someone else to come up with a viable solution for which he would then take credit once it was determined to be successful. I'll wander off to Dr. Sanity's site and get the psychiatric definition of this personality disorder and report back.
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