Thursday, November 11, 2010

Some famous desks

William F Buckley: Conservative columnist and founder of National Review

Nate Hentoff: Author columnist and pro-life libertarian

Albert Einstein: Do I really need to provide background?

Barrack H. Obama: President of the United States

Not sayin anything... really.

7 comments:

The Archer of the Forest said...

Well, I imagine the President's desk has a full time staffer to keep it clean for press/TV purposes. I sometimes wonder whether the Oval Office gets used for anything other than show.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the Oval Office is purely ceremonial...

Still funny though.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Really though, can anybody imagine Barack Obama scribbling on a legal pad, asking generals or engineers to focus on the elements of a complex problem and unpack the technical jargon? That's a key executive trait. Executives have to be able to grasp the big picture while they're slogging thru the details. This is a skill developed in conjunction with a broad knowledge base and diverse, difficult experiences, like growing up poor or being in the military.

Eisenhower, Nixon, Clinton strike me as good executives. W. Bush and Reagan were both decisive and big picture, but unable to grasp details. So when people tried to discuss things like what really motivates Central American peasants or the sectarian divisions among Muslims in the Middle East, their eyes just glazed over. Ford and Carter by contrast both got lost in details.

Obama just doesn't have it to any degree. Always been in this prep school/Ivy League bubble under the tutelage of aging white leftists. Never had a real job. Awkward and blundering when he's not speechifying. Not a bad or evil guy, but just in way, way over his head.

Anonymous said...

I see no signs of problems with the way Obama approaches issues. He seems to be able to filter, balance and not lose sight of his basic objectives. I do think, despite my sympathy for healthcare reform, that he significantly miscalculated the political capital that he'd need to expend on this fight and should have been focused on two objectives: quickly nationalizing the banks and aggressively prosecuting the fraudsters on Wall Street and jobs, jobs, jobs. Would have had the double effect of salvaging the economy and making him wildly popular with normal people.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Obama is ALL objectives--with no clue as to whether they can be accomplished under the physical and economic laws of the universe, much less the accounting and logistical processes involved. And why should he? All he's ever done in life is pontificate and be told how brilliant he is for doing so. I actually pity the man.

Anonymous said...

Would be nice if that were couched in something other than "my impressions" or "my opinion"

My God, if there was ever a president who was "objectives" over reality, it was our previous president. And we all know what a disaster that was. Obama seems to be a consummate pragmatist by comparison.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

You don't seem to have read my first post very carefully.