Obama’s taking the whole “gutsy call” thing way too seriously.
In the first two years of Obama’s presidency, his top aides had grown accustomed to a process in which Obama drew out and explored the views of his full team and searched for a consensus — decision by ballot, some called it.
Increasingly, however, that process has changed, according to a wide group of Obama’s personal friends, informal advisors and top aides interviewed during the spring. In recent months, they say, the president has been relying more heavily on his own instincts and feeling less impelled to seek accord among advisors.
The change, which came into view with the Egypt decision in February, was vividly on display in the meetings that led to the decision to send a team of Navy SEALs to raid Osama bin Laden‘s compound in Pakistan.
The success of the Bin Laden raid reinforced Obama’s security in his own judgments, aides said.
So far, despite The One’s brilliant judgement (or perhaps because of it), we’re set to lose Egypt to Islamists and Pakistan to the Islamists and the Chinese. He also owns the Afghanistan drawdown, which he pushed over the objections of his generals. And he owns the floundering, directionless intervention in Libya which is sapping NATO’s credibility every day. And he owns the economy, which his trillion dollar stimuli have done nothing to stimulate. Obama’s “gut” got him into the “bitter clingers” gaffe/revelation, his “steel trap” mind led directly to the Medal of Honor debacle, and his brilliance has led to a collapse in the debt ceiling talks. His “gut” is also driving the federal bureaucracy’s moves that are collectively creating not just big, but massive, government. A bit of self-doubt would seem to be in order in Washington generally, and with this president most specifically, as we hurtle toward national bankruptcy. But instead, we’ll get Caesar Obama.
There may be no more dangerous politician than one who believes in his own myth. It looks like we’re getting that with President Barack Obama.
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