Senator Obama is a lawyer, former “community organizer,” and legislator, who cannot claim any particular legal, business, or legislative accomplishments. He has earned a few million dollars in the past two years with his writing and publishing, yet his written works do not enlighten about history, nor reveal any great new insights or visions for the world’s future. Both of his published books are about himself, and his “life’s journey.”
With his rather limited personal and professional background, it seems reasonable that Mr. Obama would be asked if he is “experienced enough,” or if he has a sufficient understanding of “international affairs.” One could also make the case that Obama should be challenged about “hubris,” given his favorite writing topic, and given his fast-track approach to pursuing the presidency (he launched his presidential campaign with less than a full year of experience (184 days) in the U.S. Senate).
But Barack Obama has not been asked about these things. Not by Charlie Gibson, nor by anyone else among the esteemed ranks of American journalism. And “experience” aside, there are many other puzzling facets of Mr. Obama and his candidacy, that don’t seem to elicit the slightest bit of curiosity among our journalist friends.
For example, Mr. Obama has insisted for most of this year that we are in a recession. The American economy has not posted a single quarter of “negative growth” in the GDP this year (indeed Q2 posted a rather robust gain of over 3%), and last week’s projections for Q4 estimate strong new hiring and job growth. Yet, Mr. Obama continues to say that when he becomes President, he will lead Americans out of “the recession,” and has used “the recession” to argue for a doubling of the capital gains tax rate, and sharp increases in corporate and personal income taxes. His presupposition about “the recession,” and his reasoning that tax increases will help fix “the recession,” continue to go unchallenged by American journalists.
On foreign policy, Mr. Obama has vowed to abandon the policy of the American President refusing to personally meet with leaders of known terrorist states. The policy has been in place since 1979 when President Carter’s Department of State implemented it, and it has been followed by every President since. Yet Mr. Obama has promised that when he becomes President, he will continue his great “healing work” and will meet “without pre-conditions” with the heads of our nation’s adversaries, terrorist states and all. This plan has gone unchallenged by American journalists.
The “small town gal” from Alaska is being scrutinized. The guy from the big city of Chicago, who writes and speaks eloquently about himself and has already labeled himself as a “change agent” and “the one” who is leading America “to healing,” manages to escape such scrutiny. Somebody is displaying a whole lot of “hubris,” and it is not Governor Palin. |