The “Morning Joe” crew were sitting around the table responding to Gail Collins New York Times column this morning, where she blamed President Obama for being elected president after serving only two years in the Senate thus giving hope to a lot of new senators like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio that they could do the same.
Two or three years in the Senate may be the new norm, as far as qualifications go in running for president because that means you haven’t been completely corrupted by Washington. A governor will come with the executive experience, but if they are from a one-party rule state, that experience will be negated.
I won’t argue the Obama inexperience factor but Democrats, and independents had plenty of time, venues, and information to see if he qualified to be president. It’s not like President Obama didn’t have competent competition. He eventually beat the Clinton political machine and then went on to beat a veteran statesman in John McCain.
Joe Scarborough said after 5 ½ years the president still doesn’t have the leadership qualities to lead this country. Joe said that Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson managed to push through legislation despite a rambunctious opposition. Nothing ever gets through to Joe’s brain because he doesn’t realize that it’s a different time and the methods that were used to sway votes in those eras are no longer available. Finally, someone on the panel said that the GOP leader, John Boehner, can’t get the tea party folks to budge on anything. Joe Scarborough eventually had to admit that Nancy Pelosi was a much more effective leader than John Boehner but then the segment went to a commercial break.
I don’t see how Joe Scarborough can say that President Obama doesn’t have leadership skills when he can’t name a single individual who can get the respect of both parties. He might think that Chris Christie can because he’s a governor of a blues state but wasn’t Mitt Romney in that same position? We’ll see how well Chris Christie does in Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Iowa where you have to cater to the evangelicals and a take no prisoners’ base who thinks compromise is a dirty word.
History will eventually tell us what type of leadership qualities President Obama had. We’ll see how much credit he will get for stabilizing the economy after the recession, killing Bin Laden, passing health care reform, repealing “Don’t ask Don’t tell” and his final grade on the economy when he leaves office. President Obama did get the GOP to accept tax increases for the first time in decades; don’t know if that goes toward his leadership abilities.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
John Quincy Adams