April 1

Obama opened his speech at the Annual Press Roast, by apologizing for the weak endings of his stories. He explained that jokes were telephoned in and laughter, from eavesdropping NSA agents, drowned out many of the punchlines.

The new faction in the Democratic Party is the “degrowth movement”.  They want Obama to follow Pope Francis by living humbly and work for the people.  Their first demand is to move the “accommodations” in Guantanamo to the White House lawn and have the President live in them. He must eat only food from the White House Garden must desist from political fund raising activity. Obama was game but only if the Members of Congress lived in the Camp as well.  White House Legal Counsel is seeking clarification of “for the people”.

The Pope, the Queen and Nelson Mandela walk into a bar. Mandela says “I say, that chap Obama tried to use us as the start of a joke, but true to form, he couldn’t finish, just like he said hope and change, immigration legislation by the end of the first year, eliminate waste from government, build an economy on solid foundations, tax reforms, he would not run for re-election for sake of running, close Guantanamo in a year…”

The Transportation Department admitted that the administration’s only completed high speed rail project, in Vermont, recorded speeds of 47 mph, lower than the promised high speed of 52 mph. The 120 mph trains roared off the tracks.

Obama had said his administration would hit the ground running. Most of his legislation is still in the starting blocks, 6 years later.

The GOP has shelved plans to impeach Obama.  Results, of focus group studies, conclude that the public would blame the GOP for the decline of America because of Joe Biden screw-ups, if Obama’s impeachment succeeded.

Is this joke is on Robert Gates and Bin Laden?

The CIA reported that Russian sleeper agents had infiltrated the senior ranks of the Treasury Department and American Banks. The then, President Medvedev had denied Russian infiltration. He said “The policy of socialism for the big banks and capitalism for blue collar Americans was a made in America policy.” The CIA alleges that Russian planted policy makers arranged the bailout of AIG and made sure that Tarp funds did not help ordinary Americans whose homes went underwater.

It is well known that President Putin was obsessed with restoring Russia to a world power and schemed for the demise of the US. He is overjoyed for the rise of the 1% and lower standard of living for everyday Americans.  To help Putin, Obama and Congress passed a Farm Bill that subsidizes large agricultural companies and rich farmers while reducing the distribution of Foodstamps to needy Americans.  The Obama Presidency failed to amend the Farm Bill, the two occasions it came up for renewal during his watch. The KGB has agents in the Occupy movement.  Their next step is to fuel Chicago and Stockton ghetto insurgencies to class revolts of the scale of Watts riots.”

In 1914, exactly 100 years ago, the war in the Crimea led to WW I.

In 1980 Russia held the Olympics and invaded Afghanistan.

In 2014 Russia held the Olympics and invaded Crimea.

Obama’s team lacks wise elders who have lived the history.

President Carter and Paul Volcker publicly lament that Obama hasn’t given them a minute yet Obama chooses to meet historians to influence how his record will be viewed.

Obama has mentioned that he had studied Ronald Reagan, who said “Trust but verify”.

Obama never appreciated Reagan’s wisdom. He never sought negative feedback about staff performance to foster good management and thence “smart government”. Obamacare was off the rails, and Obama didn’t have a clue because of the failure to verify. Obama doesn’t verify activities of high risk agencies, such as NSA or CIA and has paid the cost.  Instead of meeting with historians, Obama would be well advised to meet with Inspector Generals of key departments such as Treasury, Justice, Health and Defense, to value their service as watchdogs.  They surely signaled concerns about Obamacare and NSA activity. Obama has handed the Republicans a convincing political platform – “Obama’s dumb government.”

Part of the job of Chief of Staff is to assess staff performance to make sure they make the grade and realize policies. The churning of Chief of Staffs throughout Obama’s Presidency has resulted in failure to protect Obama’s back. Howard Baker and Jim Baker made their boss look good.

The Justice Department failed to protect the backs of Americans by failing to nominate judges for a whole year and failing to criminally prosecute bankers who caused so much misery for home owners with homes underwater.  Obama failed to revise anti-trust legislation to attack the harm caused by too big to fail oligarchies by legally defining a competitive market.  Obama failed to listen to the voices who pointed how weak and wasteful Geithner was – Americans, with homes underwater, are still suffering and that wage czar is still burning a hole in tax payer pockets.

Former President Carter cites that two American institutions, the Military and Universities have rates of rape charges that are only 25% of the rate of charges in the American society because it is in the interest of their leadership to suppress rape charges.He didn’t mention that S. Bair, E. Warren and C. Romer were replaced by inferior male candidates because Obama was running a men’s club. Obama never came to terms with the abuse of power in removing S. Sherrod.  Despite his criticism of Bush’s “group think”, Obama’s Office is a bunch of yes men,

The greatest similarity between G. W. Bush and B. H. Obama is their lack of problem solving skills.  Bush – “the Decider” was helpless when Iraq collapsed, Obama – “in Charge” while oil was spilling into the Gulf.  In retirement, both men fade into obscurity.  Carter and Clinton take on challenges, Carter - the peace accord between Israel and Egypt and the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown and Clinton - the Dayton Peace Agreement and personal indiscretions.  To this day, they tackle problems.  Obama didn’t recognize the problem solving skills of S. Bair and E. Warren.  He failed to understand that H. Clinton is a problem solver and could contribute to “smart government” as VP.  Obama couldn’t solve the Gulf oil spill, Israeli settlement expansion, the humanitarian atrocities in Syria, redress the too big to fail issue, curb the excessive cost of University education and the sense of survival of so many Americans.  He had no plan for his re-election – just dumb luck.  The rollout of Obamacare was a disaster, temporarily reprieved by dumb luck. The number one problem is to rejuvenate America to economic prosperity yet Obama will be known for assembling the most mediocre economic teams, preferring V. Jarrett to L. Summers.

Obama’s dumb, shallow government and inability to persuade swing Republicans have made Americans tired, poor, homeless - huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Examples of a failing Presidency

How could you let a bill to fund foodstamps die in the House?

Your own mother raised you on foodstamps! 

It is during your tenure, that the use of foodstamps have risen the most.

What do you stand for? What are your priorities? 

Justice

Detainee’s despair has pushed them onto death’s doorstep at Guantanamo.

It is unsatisfactory to have 41 vacancies for judges with no nominations.

We are reaching the statue of limitations to prosecute bankers/businessmen for the financial debacle of 2008 after you and Holder established two task forces to address/stall the issue.  There are millions of Americans whose homes went underwater and were wronged by the remedy which allowed bankers to put public money into bonuses because Geithner was such a wimp.  Is Justice socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor?

The Economy – social unrest

The second great depression was met with innovative monetary policy and failing fiscal policy.

The stimulus package wasn’t appropriate for the problem at hand and fueled political discord in the partisan way it was passed. The Executive then set no fiscal policy for many years.  It’s current fiscal policy is sequestration?!

There has been evidence of lower class frustration in the UK, France, Sweden, China and Brazil. I feel there is enough contagion that will affect America.  I predict a “not guilty” verdict in the Geo Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case would ignite it but I have a mixed record on social unrest predictions.  I predicted the Occupy Movement but projected it to become Watts Riots, which didn’t happen.  You’ve got to admit you didn’t see the Occupy Movement coming, I just felt the injustice.

I don’t buy Emanuel’s remedy of education being the opium of the masses to address the 5% of anarchists in Chicago.  The better answer is economic prosperity and you don’t have a clue how to achieve it.

You will be remembered for the failing bridges, bankrupt cities, wages going backwards, the injustice to seniors who were short changed on their pension plans and the first generation of parents who despaired that their children would be worse off than them.

Your Executive is like someone who is ill but doesn’t yet know they are sick.

Your government has no agenda and can’t keep up with the paradigm shift in economics, politics and power, let alone outline policy for main street.  You never kept your first term promise to work on the economy every day or if you did your efforts have been pathetic. You are not the right man for the time and you failed to assemble the best minds in America to address the problems.

You need a private economic summit to discuss the changes in economics with L. Summers, P. Krugman,  J. Siglizt, A. Greenspan and J. Galbraith.  What drivers does government have to navigate the economy nowadays?

Once the “what” has been defined you need problem solvers like James Baker, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Nancy Pelosi and Leon Panetta to tell you how to do it.

The Office of the President truly needs a Department of Government Affairs, which is in touch with every member of Congress to lobby for the priority bills, such as the Foodstamps bill.  There is a paradigm shift in the power structure of Congress and you haven’t placed sufficient resources to deal with it.  Your election team was successful in finding the road to re-election.  It is their analysis of Congress that is required to salvage your Presidency.

We have seen cowardice from you in dealing with the injustice to S. Sherrod and your pronounced failure to build an economic team brimming with leadership and confidence.

These are big strategic ideas well beyond the scope of Valery Jarrett.  We still fail to understand her reading of the facts to justify firing Robert Gibbs or Shirley Sherrod. 

Hope and Change, Rebuild the Middle Class, Yes we can.

I told you so.

Minding the Store

Your Presidency will be noted for not minding the store.
There is no Obama agenda because your style of management is to micro-manage so staff is not empowered.  It is not team Obama, it is just Obama. 

Critical positions, like the Chief of Staff or Economic advisers are revolving door positions. Their views are undermined because they don’t have a track record of Presidential support, they are merely transients.  Your staff operates like the Toronto Raptors, a new line-up every year, look where the Raptor’s finish.  It is ironic how Obama, the Candidate criticized G. W. Bush’s advisers of group think yet Obama, the President only chooses replacements from his tiny inner circle.

Your selections are hard working but are not empowered to be effective.  The terminations of Robert Gibbs and Shirley Sherrod appear to be done with a capricious flick of power yet poor performance is not always corrected.  Why have there been so many Chiefs of Staff and changes in Economic advisors?  There must be some kind of interference on those in the position, to prevent them from doing their job in a manner which pleases you. There is no reason to take these jobs, only to be undermined.  It is clear that the source of interference, as well intentioned as it may be, is part of the cause of the failure to govern.

The people selected have not demonstrated an adeptness to handle the levers of power.
The failure to provide a fiscal policy has been harped upon by many Governors at the Federal Reserve.  The nation needs a fiscal policy. Your staff churn may be a contributing factor in the failure to govern affairs of the nation.

You are not able to evaluate staff performance.  You had no conviction on the outstanding effectiveness of Sheila Bair or Elizabeth Warren and substituted non-descript men. You didn’t pull the trap door on T. Geithner or E. Holder whose performance could be considered suspect if not failing.  You went a whole year without nominating a judge to vacancies and this year of the 81 vacancies have only nominated 37 judges.  This is clearly not doing the people’s business after 5 years on the job.

You must know, that I don’t think you can get anything done.  I think Hillary Clinton can get things done.  What’s the difference?
She knows how to pick good people. You don’t.
She knows a lot of people.  You don’t.  She has the A list, you have the B list.
She empowers her people.  You don’t.  Your staff is second guessed by V. Jarrett.
She knows how to problem solve.  You don’t. 
She understands the levers of power.  You don’t.
She sets an agenda.  You don’t.
I think you need Hillary Clinton’s help.  America needs to get things done in your remaining time.

Your record is of broken promises "Hope and Change", "Return of the Middle Class".  You really don't know how to get there from here.

You must break your bad habits and change.  Cut back on the micro-managing by empowering staff.  Reduce the influence of the interference.  So many of the current distraction issues could be handled by an empowered Chief of Staff, but because you micro-manage you are stuck addressing issues that drag you down.  You fail to select team members who demonstrate wisdom or adeptness at pulling the levers of power. My opinion is that V. Jarrett is an amateur compared to L. Summers or A. Greenspan. 
You don’t agree, but look at your record. America needs a fiscal policy.

I told you so.

Customer Service

When you were an educator, I imagine you had little empathy for
students to whom you gave an F.
You are on track to get an F grade as President.

One of your early messages was that the best antidote to the big
government/small government debate was smart government.
You have failed to demonstrate smart government.
A characteristic of successful companies is good management. The route to smart government is good management.  Management – the art of getting things done through people.

You are not getting trusted feedback about negative staff performance to foster good management and thence smart government.
I have constantly told you, that part of the job of Chief of Staff is to measure staff performance to make sure they are up to standard and enforce policies.
The churning of Chief of Staffs has resulted in failure to protect your back.
The current distraction issues could be mitigated by enforcing a high
performance standard.
I have been critical of Axelrod, Emanuel, Geithner and Holder.
You are paying for their failings

The Federal Reserve has been force to resort to Quantitative Easing because of the absence of Fiscal Policy.  You have demonstrated that you haven’t learned enough economics to understand this.

You have not learned to deftly exercise the levers of power.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
  Hire the best lobbyists Government can afford.
  Resort to bribery, use stealth earmarks.
  Build an insurgency department to marshal Congress to get things done.
  Look, you have a winning election team.
  Use this team find the votes for each bill.  It must be multi-dimensional, building specific coalitions for each bill, gender, age, geographic, economic, race.  Whatever it takes, get something done.

You are out of touch.
Americans are a proud people who like to carry their heads high.
You are oblivious of so many who are frustrated, forced to be humble and meek.
You don’t know the price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk. You only know statistics.  Don’t believe inflation is less than 1%, ask why has the price of a loaf of bread and gallon of milk tripled since you entered office. I speak from my experience. When your advisor gives you the answer (they will likely say it’s just not so.) challenge him/her.  You are too used to being spoon fed.  People in your circles don’t care about the price of a loaf of bread or gallon of milk.

Enough rhetoric, let’s see some small deeds that provide hope.  You have spent more time electioneering (the 2010 mid-terms, the 2012 Presidential) than Presidential Executive matters.  Enough, you have no business meddling with the 2014 mid-terms.

Your rolodex for new staff is now depleted.  Check with Hillary Clinton, ask her to be a consultant. Use her problem solving skills to clean house and tap into her rolodex. I suggested a long time ago to
switch her with Biden.  You don’t know how to get things done through people.

I have told you before.  I work with Hispanics, Filipinos and Blacks. Only the Blacks whine and complain because it is part of their culture.  The rest of us resent them.  Nothing worse than a Black’s whining and bitching.  Deal with it!

Follow the new Pope’s example, strive to serve the people.

Unlike an arrogant academic dishing out an F, I feel the country suffers that you are heading for an F.  I’m surprised the downtrodden are rioting in Sweden.  I felt the 99% solidarity with the Occupy
Movement.  I still feel the rumbling that riots could erupt in your remaining 3 years. As big government is further tarnished, just ask Emanuel about the 5% in Chicago that perpetuate anarchy.

I told you so.

April 1st, 2013

The Senate has initiated procedures to impeach President Obama.
There is evidence that he had contacted Roman Catholic Supreme Court
Justices, to use their influence to get him elected Pope. Apparently
Obama’s ambitions were not only to be the first black President but
the first black Pope.
When told, Popes must be Roman Catholic, Obama said “Just like
Presidents were supposed to be born in America.”
Obama saw the move to Pope as the best way to address climate change,
tax reform and raising taxes.  He said, with lips perched, he’d leave
fairness of wealth distribution, the national debt and world peace to
Hillary.  Clinton responded that she had no intentions to be Pope as
she discourages Bill from attending Berlusconi’s  bunga bunga parties.
Obama’s experience qualified him because he is
  head of a dysfunctional hierarchy,
  a speaker to audiences who nod off,
  living a lavish lifestyle while failing to help to the downtrodden.
Pundits view Obama’s move to Pope as the Democrat strategy to cement
the Latino vote.
His election team pulled out a miracle in 2012 and he believes they
could elect him to anything.
Chief of Staff Denis McDonough  said “Electoral College, College of
Cardinals – it’s old school, we can count.”
Italians attribute Obama’s bid for Pope, on the American fetish for
hats.  Unnamed sources mention that Obama replaced Emanuel with
McDonough, a Catholic, because Emnaual could only offer a kippah
whereas McDonough’s connections could offer a massive crown.
Bookies were taking bets whether Obama would install a basketball
court or a driving range in St Peter’s Square.
In a bipartisan move, the White House flew Clint Eastwood to Rome to
perform the “empty chair” pitch but he lacked the credentials to be a
delegate.
In another attempt to reach out to Republicans, Obama invited Dick
Cheney to Camp David to learn how to swing around and shoot a hunting
companion.  Obama will be wearing a bullet proof vest.  He plans to
invite Republican Congressmen on hunting trips in May.  Many
Republicans have already declined after Homeland Security conceded
that the hunting grounds were under drone surveillance.
As his book sales decline, Obama has intensified negotiations with
Camel cigarettes to pose for commercials.  He has considered placing
his Nobel Peace Prize on eBay. The Obama’s are concerned about the
cost of University enrollment for their daughters.
There is growing concern among White House staff, on Obama’s
insistence to include Colorado and Washington State stopovers. The
Secret Service maintains a list of acceptable smoke shops when Obama
touches down.  Advance Secret Service agents now appear less
interested in checking out brothels and have taken deep breaths to
check out smoke shops.
Obama sought the names of the planners of extravagant parties, paid
for, on GSA expense accounts in 2010.  He wanted them to plan a
golfing vacation in Florida just before sequestration kicked in.
The bipartisan group, Dog Owners of America, is petitioning for a
constitutional amendment ensuring that Presidents be responsible dog
owners.  They reproach G. W. Bush for dropping his dog on its head.
They reproach the Obama’s for not making it a family commitment to
walk their dog.
Obama recently invited historians for a meeting to make sure they
portray him more like Lincoln than G. W. Bush.
He cites the Affordable Healthcare Act as Lincoln-esque.
There are counterpoints.
Keeping detainees at Guantanamo, just like G. W. Bush.
Weakening the Justice Department, just like G. W. Bush– no charges
against those responsible for the 2006 financial crisis and no
anti-trust charges against the too big to fail banks.
Nominating Austan Goolsbee was like G. W. Bush nominating Harriet
Miers to the Supreme Court.
Keeping Geithner was like G. W. Bush keeping Rumsfeld.
Obama is being prodded by T. Geithner to name him head of the World
Bank, just as G. W. Bush forced Paul Wolfowitz’s appointment. The IRS
has already warned Geithner to declare his income for tax purposes
when appointed. S. Bair, B. Born, E. Warren and C. Romer spearhead a
movement to stop Geithner’s appointment as he has a record for firing
women.
In response to the Tea Party, a Democratic Party faction has been
created called True Blue.  Their mandate is that America cannot fail
to provide for the necessities of life for young and old Americans.
The price of a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk has tripled since
Obama took Office.
There are 43 million Americans on foodstamps.
We are not better off than we were 5 years ago.
Tuition costs for university are too high and not worth it.
We want justice for the innocent homeowners whose homes were
foreclosed because of the unconscionable acts of the bankers of Wall
Street who were never prosecuted.
We want legislation that forces any car with a driver and one
passenger to have to pick up a hitchhiker.
They picket gated communities chanting “Mr. Obama, tear down this wall.”
They seek a return to the good old days when drivers left their car
key in the ignition and families left the doors to their homes,
unlocked.
No one in America should be so poor to have to steal.

My Point of View - Consolidated

Dear President Obama

How you can improve for the second term.
Foremost is working on personnel management skills because results
come from the work of your people.

I maintain that wisdom, emphathy, team player attitude and instinctive
feel for the levers of power are what is needed.

Wisdom is more than intelligence.  Wise people are able to solve local
problems in a way that contributes to the big picture.  So after
several years the big picture has improved.  They are always mindful
of the big picture yet have problem solving skills (define the
problem, suspend blame mentality and brainstorm for a solution ) to
address the issue at hand.  They visualize the best possible blue sky
big picture.  The best examples are H. Clinton and R. Gates.  The most
deficient is T. Geithner, for whom every problem is local. How do you
recover the people’s money that went to executive bonuses when you
freely gave the money away in the first place?

Ratings 0 lowest, 5 highest
                                     H.
               H. Clinton   V. Jarrett  D. Plouffe
Wisdom           5             3               5

Empathy          5             0               5                                          
Team player     5             0               5                                             
Feel for levers 

of power          5             2                4                       

Total             20             5               19                                           

Looks to me like H. Clinton scores as better advisor.

Worth repeating  - My point of view.

The election was close because you have a bad record.  Your record is
bad because you didn’t build a focused economic team.  I couldn’t
predict that your initial team would disintegrate.  But I saw it and
told you, you didn’t do anything about it.  I did tell you I thought
Bill Clinton knew more about economics than you, but he showed he
didn’t know enough by supporting the extension of the Bush tax cuts in
2010.  He promised millions of jobs by stimulating a green
retro-fitting industry… not so much.  No one is a know it all, not even
me. You must have team work on the economy, look what you, H. Clinton
and R. Gates did as a team in foreign affairs.

Your initial economic team didn’t know how to pull the strings of
power.  In recent public appearances, Goulsbee still thinks government
is powerless.  Leadership is not blaming Congress, real leadership is
figuring out the strings of power where there is no user's manual.
Your election team won by writing their own playbook. Economics,
indeed government, runs by people who make up the playbook.  It seems
to me A. Greenspan and L. Summers know how to write the playbook, they
know the strings of power.  I would think you should ask the two for
their advice when going over your short list of people for Treasury,
Commerce and the White House.

You were able to prod the military into actions, it initially didn’t
offer as options, because you drew ideas from the backrow of advisors.
You weren’t so lucky in the economic domain. I wrongly predicted that
the Occupy movement would produce Watts riots. I feel the sense of
social injustice is palpable and you are right to focus government
policy to help the middle class.  There is no backrow of government to
prod to initiate this.  I think making a cabinet position for H.
Clinton called Intra-governmental Affairs to address these issues is
what is needed, a front row person who is wise, empathetic and knows
the strings of power.  She is passionate about this.

You are a slow learner.

You repeat mistakes from the first term. You seem to ram through the
fiscal cliff bill, to start the second term, the same way you rammed through the
stimulus bill in the first term, which builds resentment for rest of
the term. People have feelings, they don’t like to be bullied.

You don’t mind the store.

Bill Gates said that the Affordable Healthcare Act lacks cost
controls. Bill Gates gives away a lot of money.  When he gives away
money, he tries his best to assure himself that it will be well spent,
by careful decision making at the outset.  He addresses his concern
for the risk of financial abuse.  His public comment decries your
failure to design up front controls when dealing with the expenditure
of such large sums of money.

You just pour money into Universities with no strings attached in the
belief that, that  is all that is needed.  You don’t realize that
Universities squander the money by paying themselves exorbitant
salaries, guaranteeing themselves salaries for life (tenure) and
pampering themselves with year long vacations (sabbaticals).
Education is not about ransoming the people for knowledge!

Geithner poured money into the too big to fail financial institutions
with no strings attached.  These institutions siphoned off the money
to pay themselves bonuses.

You fail America as coach, general manager and owner.

The starting line-up for your economic team was Orzag, Romer,
Summers, Goolsbee, Jarrett and Geithner. Orzag didn’t last training
camp.  There was so much dissent among the remaining members, that
they all went in their separate directions.  Summers, Jarrett and
Geithner were not team players to begin with. It was sad to see Romer,
Summers and Geithner state disparate economic policy in public. It was
clear they could not agree amongst themselves on the message. In stark
contrast, you, Gates and Clinton would amplify the message because you
worked as a team.

You can sign, L. James. D. Wade and C. Bosh or K. Bryant, D. Howard
and S. Nash but you don’t automatically win.  K. Garnett, R. Allen and
P. Pierce clicked right away because management anticipated the nature
of team chemistry and coaching provided the appropriate game plan.
You failed to anticipate the dysfunctional team chemistry of your
hand-picked players and had an inept player draw up the game plan,
look at the housing plan of March 2009.

You lacked the skills to intervene when personality clashes adversely
interfere with dealing with the economy, such as between Summers and
Jarrett, Geithner and S. Bair, Geithner and E. Warren.  While Summers
is confrontational, he cares about everyday Americans and knows how to
write the economic playbook. Jarrett cares more about protecting your
back, witness R. Gibbs, Shirley Sherrod and has no record of
compassion for downtrodden Americans. Even from the sidelines, Summers
has cried out that it is more important to fuel the economy than to
invoke austerity for deficit reduction.  Why has no one in the White
House said this? You shouldn’t have allowed Jarrett to frustrate
Summers so much to force him to leave. Step in and maintain order,
show some authority.  You can’t lose good people, S. Bair, E. Warren,
C. Romer and L. Summers, these are all stars.  You are a loser for
letting them slip through your fingers.

You fail management 101

Presidents must make sure that the mundane administrative work of
government gets done.  In Reagan’s parlance - trust but verify.  You
need to delegate someone reporting to the Chief of Staff, to verify
that work promised is completed as promised and tell you the truth
when things are not so.
Are there nominations for all vacancies in the lower courts?
Where are the task forces to charge the Wall Street thugs for wrong doings?
Where is the proposal, we were promised, for the fate of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac?
Where are we on re-examing the too big to fail challenge?
Where is Volcker's tax reform package?
Guantanamo is to close in a year, are we on schedule?

The pre-screening process was such a failure in the first round of
vetting appointees re: IRS, nanny’s etc.  Mandate that all nominations
will breeze through the first round of vetting.  It was so pathetic to
waste time on people who weren’t properly vetted – you never recovered
from the failure to staff  trying to eliminate waste from government.
Geithner got off to a really bad start with his tax omission.

You cannot afford to have Miami Heat, LA Laker style problems with
your team members this time.  Wisdom, empathy, team player attitude
and instinctive feel for the levers of power are the criteria in
picking players for a winning team.

Happy New Year

My point of view part 2

 Dear President Obama

You are a slow learner.

You repeat mistakes from the first term. You ram through fiscal cliff
bill, to start the second term, the same way you rammed through the
stimulus bill in the first term, which builds resentment for rest of
the term. People have feelings, they don’t like to be bullied.

You don’t mind the store.

Bill Gates said that the Affordable Healthcare Act lacks cost
controls. Bill Gates gives away a lot of money.  When he gives away
money, he tries his best to assure himself that it will be well spent,
by careful decision making at the outset.  He addresses his concern
for the risk of financial abuse.  His public comment decries your
failure to design up front controls when dealing with the expenditure
of such large sums of money.

You just pour money into Universities with no strings attached in the
belief that, that  is all that is needed.  You don’t realize that
Universities squander the money by paying themselves exorbitant
salaries, guaranteeing themselves salaries for life (tenure) and
pampering themselves with year long vacations (sabbaticals).
Education is not about ransoming the people for knowledge!

Geithner poured money into the too big to fail financial institutions
with no strings attached.  These institutions siphoned off the money
to pay themselves bonuses.

You fail America as coach, general manager and owner.

Your starting line-up for your economic team was Orzag, Romer,
Summers, Goolsbee, Jarrett and Geithner. Orzag didn’t last training
camp.  There was so much dissent among the remaining members, that
they all went in their separate directions.  Summers, Jarrett and
Geithner were not team players to begin with. It was sad to see Romer,
Summers and Geithner state disparate economic policy in public. It was
clear they could not agree amongst themselves on the message. In stark
contrast, you, Gates and Clinton would amplify the message because you
worked as a team.

You can sign, L. James. D. Wade and C. Bosh or K. Bryant, D. Howard
and S. Nash but you don’t automatically win.  K. Garnett, R. Allen and
P. Pierce clicked right away because management anticipated the nature
of team chemistry and coaching provided the appropriate game plan.
You failed to anticipate the dysfunctional team chemistry of your
hand-picked players and had an inept player draw up the game plan,
look at the housing plan of March 2009.

You lacked the skills to intervene when personality clashes adversely
interfere with dealing with the economy, such as between Summers and
Jarrett, Geithner and S. Bair, Geithner and E. Warren.  While Summers
is confrontational, he cares about everyday Americans and knows how to
write the economic playbook. Jarrett cares more about protecting your
back, witness R. Gibbs, Shirley Sherrod and has no record of
compassion for downtrodden Americans. Even from the sidelines, Summers
has cried out that it is more important to fuel the economy than to
invoke austerity for deficit reduction.  Why has no one in the White
House said this? You shouldn’t have allowed Jarrett to frustrate
Summers so much to force him to leave. Step in and maintain order,
show some authority.  You can’t lose good people, S. Bair, E. Warren,
C. Romer and L. Summers, these are all stars.  You are a loser for
letting them slip through your fingers.

You fail management 101

Presidents must make sure that the mundane administrative work of
government gets done.  In Reagan’s parlance - trust but verify.  You
need to delegate someone reporting to the Chief of Staff, to verify
that work promised is completed as promised and tell you the truth
when things are not so.
Are there nominations for all vacancies in the lower courts?
Where are the task forces to charge the Wall Street thugs for wrong doings?
Where is the proposal, we were promised, for the fate of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac?
Where are we on re-examing the too big to fail challenge?
Guantanamo is to close in a year, are we on schedule?

The pre-screening process was such a failure in the first round of
vetting appointees re: IRS, nanny’s etc.  Mandate that all nominations
will breeze through the first round of vetting.  It was so pathetic to
waste time on people who weren’t properly vetted – you never recovered
from the failure to staff  trying to eliminate waste from government.
Geithner got off to a really bad start with his tax omission.

You cannot afford to have Miami Heat, LA Laker style problems with
your team members this time.  Wisdom, empathy, team player attitude
and instinctive feel for the levers of power are the criteria in
picking players for a winning team.

Let’s go out and win the second half.