Obamanation

Recently, I've been thinking about the Presidency of Barack Obama thus far. As a relative conservative, I've found that I cannot entirely agree with many of his ideologies. I mean, the 2008 election was the first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote... and I definitely voted for John McCain. (At least partially because I wanted to see Tina Fey do impersonations of Sarah Palin for four years, but that's beside the point.) I've been comtemplating the presidency of the left-handed black man known as Barack Obama, and have been thinking that he hasn't really been a bad President... though he really hasn't been all that good of a president either. Much of his administration so far has focused on repairing and maintaining middle-east and Muslim relations. His actual policy and decisions have been questionable at best. He has made great claims about pulling US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and did in some small degree for some period of time, but has now begun to resend many of the same soldiers which have already served one or more tours of duty. He has also many more idealistic claims which he has yet to deliver. This is not entirely to say that he won't, or is incapable of delivering on such promises, but that he has thus far made a habit of sitting striaght up on the fence of indecision. The true litmus test for President Obama will come when he has to make a decision which will undeniably change the course for the United States of America.

The true point of this entry is not merely to rag on Obama for not making any ground shaking decisions, but more to reflect on the nature of the presidency of the United States. President Obama has managed to impart a sense of security to the American people and people's all over the world. This sense of security may or may not be warranted, but it is important for all the people of the United States and the world to have some sort of feeling of security and consistency in a constantly changing world. The point of this entry is to explore the role of a President's ability to BS not only the people which he leads, but also people and leaders all over the world. Throughout recent history those which have been considered to be "good" Presidents were those who were most able to convince America that all was well, when the $h*7 was actually hitting the fan. Likewise, those who would be called "bad" Presidents would be those who weren't as skilled in PR. Allow me to explain with a few examples:

"Good" Presidents

Ronald Reagan: Considered by most conservatives to be the best president of all time. He combined good decision making skills with an incurable optimism, and a natural talent for acting that could could up the most dire cases of the defecate hitting the oscillating device.

Bill Clinton: Actually accomplished very little as President. Along with Alan Greenspan managed to ride a wave of economic prosperity for the ages. He was also the master of BS, managing to convince the world that "[He] did not have sexual relations with that woman." And then later on that he was actually sorry about it. See also, "That depends on the meaning of the word, 'is'"

"Bad" Presidents

"W"-Took most of the monkey defecate left for him by the last 5 or 6 Presidents. His relative incompetency combined with his entire incapability of articulation made many refer to him as one of the worst Presidents of all time.

"Lame Brain" Johnson-I'd like to think of him as Bush v.0. In LBJ's case, his predecessors were mostly competent, but like "W" he went into a conflict which was doomed to fail. His inability to correctly manage the Vietnam War could easily be chronicled as the worst in US History. Much of this failure was due to his absolute disclosure of every event which went on in the war. His inablility to bring comfort to US citizens lead to a mission which was bound to fail.

In all, I suppose that Barack Obama's ability to lay down BS to Americans and all the world will be a principle if not the only asset which he brings to the Presidency. To determine whether Obama is a good President, we will need to observe his conduct and decisions in a desparate time of trial in which he is forced to "Sink or Swim" if you will. Thought his ability to convince the world that all is well, whether it is or not gives him a significant advantage.