The Scales Fall From My Eyes.

The Scales Fall From My Eyes.  I was watching Fox News this morning while feasting on bagels and coffee and had a moment of revelation.  Obama’s foreign policy, and policies in general, have always left me in dismay; but apart from his arrogant and narcissistic bent, I have often puzzled as to what motivates him to think the way he does.  Is he simply oblivious to the truth or is he a liar?  Does he choose to fiddle while America burns or do the ashes please him?  Is there a “power behind the throne” or is this really his vision for our country?  I go from one belief to the next without ever fully understanding what makes this man do what he does.   Watching John Bolton on Fox News gave me a moment of clarity.  Now Bolton is typically a bit too far right for me; and he is always way too hawkish for me.  But the man is obviously gifted with experience and knowledge and to ignore what he says would be foolish.  This former U.N. Ambassador is obviously a very intelligent person. 

Whether I clearly understood the points Bolton was trying to make or not, they helped me reach a moment of clarity in what I see as Obama’s motivations.  Although imperfect, here is my best analogy of Obama’s thinking.  You own an apartment in a rather large complex.  The complex has a myriad of different tenants from all walks of life, diversified in every sense of the word, and you really like where you live; you have formed personal relationships with many of your neighbors.  However, over the last few months, there has been a recurring problem.  Late at night, some of the neighborhood youths have been throwing rocks against the outside walls of your apartment.  Aside from the noise, you worry that your windows will be broken and even worse, if left unaddressed, the issue may escalate into something much more dangerous than rocks against the wall.  With the cooperation of neighbors and the police, a few kids have been identified as rock throwers and been dealt with.   But there are so many perpetrators that for every one you set down, another two or three pop up.  At some point, the police tell you that they simply do not have the time or manpower to constantly monitor the rock throwing and although you, with the help of the neighbors, can identify the group of kids that are guilty; you cannot nail the specific rock thrower at a specific time. 

You are faced with two choices.  Accept the fact that rocks being thrown against your wall late at night will be part of your life for the foreseeable future.  Learn to adjust to it.  Begin sleeping with ear plugs.  Turn the television or the radio volume up a notch or two.  Tell the neighbors that want you to pursue the delinquents to calm down and go home; there is nothing to be done and it is simply life as it will continue to be.  Your other choice is to tighten the bonds that join you with your neighbors.  Form a watch group or invest in some trail cams to capture the violators.  Cooperate with the police by helping to supplement their limited resources while continuing to focus on the problem.   Along with your neighbors, begin an investigation in the neighborhood in an attempt to find out exactly who is doing this and if that is accomplished, then deal directly with those individuals.  In other words, pursue the source of the problem and deal with it directly.  It strikes me that our president has chosen the former path in his foreign policy. 

He simply accepts the chaos and turmoil in the world as inevitable change.  He does not see America as capable of dealing with the issues at their source and chooses instead to work on solutions that cope with their consequences; like an afflicted man spending a lifetime treating symptoms rather than seeking a cure.  Much like his global warming obsession, he views the international violence and terrorism as natural progressions of the human evolution and seeks to find calm, deliberate ways to turn up the television and radio.  He seeks out like-minded leaders, both domestic and foreign, to scheme with; while demagoguing those who do not share his perspective.  He is what we call a “game manager” quarterback in the NFL.  One who takes what is given, makes the easy choice every down, and never takes a risk or makes a bold play.   Game managers do pretty well sometimes and if they are surrounded with exceptional talent, they on occasion will rise to championship level.  Unfortunately, Obama is not surrounded with exceptional talent.  He is surrounded with incompetent ideologues that have no conception of their own foibles and are not interested in discussing them.  Game managers can quickly become dangerous liabilities as the competition level rises.  In this situation, a game manager will take the team down into a descending spiral of confusion, failure, low morale, and extremely poor performance.  It typically results in a new quarterback, a new coach, and perhaps even a new general manager. Fortunately, one way or the other, that will be occurring in 2016.  The bad news is that we have about one more year left in this season and it will take quite some time to rebuild the organization to some type of competent level.

As an aside, Bolton was followed on Fox News by Josh Earnest.  After listening to a few moments of Mr. Earnest, I encourage any restaurant owner in the WDC area to contact him as soon as possible.  Hash slingers of his lofty skill level are few and far between.  I hear he may become available sometime in the next year or so.