Why has the Obama Novelty Worn Off?

Why has the Obama novelty worn off so rapidly? The answer is simple; he is not a novel politician or president. Other than being the first African-American President, the first president to blame his predecessor for all his problems, and most partisan president of all time there is really nothing novel or unique about Obama. In fact, he is like most politicians in that he is a great campaigner, but he lacks the ability to govern or legislate effectively. Some uneducated people may think Obama is enacting novel concepts and ideas, but that is only because they are unaware he copying policies and ideas that decades old.

Obama claims that he has passed landmark and historic legislation such as healthcare reform, financial reform, nuclear disarmament, and the stimulus, but there is nothing novel or unique about any of these policies. Face it, government run healthcare reform is nothing new to the federal government who previously passed Medicare and Medicaid. The financial industry has faced reform many times in the past when the government created the Federal Reserve and the Securities Exchange Commission. Just about every president since Lyndon Johnson has signed some nuclear non proliferation or disarmament agreement or treaty. And dozens of presidents have passed stimulus spending programs in an effort to stimulate the economy. No, Obama is not unique; he is like many politicians, a copy cat. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the president is copying failed domestic and foreign policies of our past - then this is very bad.

Obama, like most presidents, has narcissistic ego and feels everything he does is not only unique, but it is 100% correct. Obama unknowingly takes information he has read and brands it as his own and treats it as gospel. He has followed the strategy used by Abraham Lincoln to keep his enemies close. That is why he gave Hillary Clinton the most prestigious cabinet post – Secretary of State. Obama is trying to institute the corporate strategy used by Henry Ford back in the twenties to increase productivity by increasing wages and benefits for employees. This is why Obama is pushing for increased union intervention and why he is fining companies who do not supply health insurance. There is just one problem with this strategy: what worked nearly 100 years ago may not work today. Back in the twenties Henry Ford was not competing globally against dozens of car manufactures. Today, U.S. auto manufacturers cannot compete with foreign car companies who pay employees much lower wages and benefits. Thus, Obama’s corporate policies are failing to create jobs and to increase production.

Obama has read books about Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and his policies. He has also read history books and sees their favorable view of FDR’s Keynesian spending concepts to handle the Great Depression back in the thirties. Thus, Obama thinks it is a novel idea to handle our current recession the same way and therefore, he passed the 800 billion dollar Recovery Act. However, a decade of FDR spending never got the United States economy back to full employment. Does this sound like a familiar trend? It should because the same thing is happening today. Obama is also a big fan of John F. Kennedy (JFK) and his handling of the Cuban missile crisis. Kennedy was able to end the saga using talk and a small show of military might – blockading Cuba. But it was clear that JFK was never going to be the aggressor during the crisis. If World War III broke out it was going to be because Russia made the first military strike. Thus, Obama’s foreign policy towards rogue nations building nuclear weapons is one of restraint and bilateral talks with absolutely no contingency plan calling for military action. Obama’s copying of history is not only the antithesis of novel, but once again, an out of date strategy. Kennedy was dealing with a military powerhouse – a Russian army that had thousands of nuclear weapons. JFK understood any military action by the U.S. would have gotten a nuclear response from Russia. Obama, on the other hand, is dealing with third world countries (Iran and North Korea) but they are the ones calling the shots as the United States plays a reactive and passive role. Keep in mind that JFK was not showing weakness during the Cuban missile crisis by pushing for a nuclear disarmament treaty. But this is exactly what Obama is doing today. He is pushing for nuclear disarmament at a time when defiant and rogue nations are building nuclear stockpiles.

Obama is not novel; instead he is copying failed and outdated domestic and foreign policies from a few books he read. This is not leadership since any college academic can do the same thing. A good gauge to measure the novelty of any president is how they deal with unique situations such as the Deepwater Horizon rig oil spill. And Obama failed miserably when given this task. He failed to contain the spill and start the clean up effort in a timely manner and he overreacted by placing a moratorium on deepwater drilling and by starting legal action against BP too soon in the process.