Overreaching and Overreacting

Every president makes the same mistake by overreaching and overreacting to both foreign and domestic policy and every crisis they face. Overreacting to a crisis is certainly explainable, but overreaching to create a bad policy is a whole other ordeal.

Obama overreacted to the BP oil spill by placing a moratorium on deepwater drilling. He also prematurely pushed the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the spill, which was arguably a deterrent to BP to cap the leak. Maybe these are bad policies, but they are somewhat understandable. The odds against another oil rig exploding are astronomical, but what if one did explode? People would want Obama’s head on a platter for not intervening and stopping deepwater drilling. I may not agree with these policies, but overreacting is only natural for a person that is responsible for the wellbeing of 300 million people. On foreign policy, the Obama White House overreacted to Israel’s action of building settlements in Jerusalem, and it strained the relationship between the two countries. The Obama White House also overreacted to race issues regarding Louis Gates and Shirley Sherrod. In the end, the tensions created by the overreaction were resolved. These are just a few examples of Obama overreactions.

President Bush faced a similar dilemma after both the 9-11 attacks and the anthrax attack that soon followed. Intelligence told the administration the anthrax came from Iraq and other intelligence supported the claim that Saddam Husain was building chemical weapons of mass destruction. Bush reacted decisively, as any president responsible for our national security would do. Did Bush overreact? Yes, since later intelligence revealed Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and the anthrax attack came from a U.S. lab. In the end, the Iraqi people were freed from a genocidal tyrant and the country is now a democracy. Was the Iraq War worth the lost lives, casualties, and the division it created at home? That will be decided by history. One thing is certain: Any president would have overreacted the same way as Bush did to protect our national security. Even Obama may have done the same if he thought Iraq was attacking the U.S. with anthrax and potentially other chemical weapons.

While overreacting may be explained, overreaching on domestic and foreign policy is another problem. For instance, Obama has overreached to pass the Recovery Act, healthcare reform, financial reform, and he will do the same thing if he pursues immigration reform, card check, and climate change legislation. To overreach is to pass legislation at all cost, even if it fails to fix the problem it is intended to address. In essence, a policy that overreaches lacks strategic vision with ample risk mitigation plans to prevent future issues with the law. Think about it; the Recovery Act has failed to create jobs. ObamaCare will not make healthcare more affordable because it fails to address the reasons why healthcare costs are spiraling out of control. Financial reform will fail to prevent a future financial bubble from collapsing because it does not reform government entities. If Obama provides amnesty to illegal aliens without securing the border - it will be a costly mistake for all state governments. Climate change policy will also create an economic calamity by substantially increasing energy costs and creating a massive green energy bubble. These are all bad policies because the president is overreaching to get something passed while ignoring the negative future implications of these laws. And yes, Bush also overreached. On classic example is his No Child Left Behind legislation that is still failing students.

The bottom line is it is easier to overcome an overreaction (even a war), but it is nearly impossible to repeal bad overreaching legislation. Our nation will suffer negatively from the debt that will be accumulated from ObamaCare and the Recovery Act for decades.