The Astonishing Mendacity and Incompetance of Barack Obama !

''mendacity'' adv.  addicted to telling lies (Random House Dictionary)

I covered a lot of this before in a previous blog posting, which I'll leave you to search for in amongst the 450 postings I've written. I am just going to up date things and give you a quick tour relating to  the title above. Remember these pearls of deceit?


        "Of course you can keep your health coverage, and your doctor. And we'll cover everyone while your premiums plummet.''

         Meanwhile, al-Qaeda is ''decimated'' and these Islamic State guys are just the jayvee team. In fact (fact?), they're not even Islamic -- although they may not be quite a 'secular' as the Muslim Brotherhood. Just extremists. (Extreme about what?  Don't ask!)    "My advisors say that jihad is just a 'purification of the self ' ...or at most, 'workplace violence' that involves some beheading to satisfy the Quran's commands,'' was the Presidential verdict.

         ''Benghazi?  A spontaneous 'protest' incited by a video. ''I was not told it was a terrorist attack....except by the Secretary of Defence a while after it started''  Long before he responded by....going to Vegas, where he promptly announced al-Qaeda was ''on the path to defeat.''

         ''Rest assured that the State Department's top priority is the safety of American personnel although we did reduce security after our facility was attacked and our ambassador, Chris Stevens, and his three security men were killed.'' It's common knowledge, Obama missed over 50% of the State Department's security briefings over his past term and this half one.

        ''And rest assured that Eric Holder's Justice Department would never let guns walk.'' Except for the thousands its Fast and Furious program transferred to violent gangs --who've used them in
who knows how many crimes, including the murder of a Border Patrol agent Brian Terry (photo).

         Still, at least there's ''not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS'', where citizens are harassed, especially if they are Tea Party members. Where evidence keeps disappearing, and the official at the center of it all takes the Fifth to avoid giving incriminating testimony.

         Then there is the NSA's secret warrantless mass surveillance programs of which the IRS and the DEA's Special Operations Division (SOD) share culled information. Obama repeatedly has assured Americans that the NSA does not collect the private information of its ordinary citizens. That statement is not true.

         Worse, DEA and IRS agents were told to lie by the administration, to lie to judges and defence attorneys about their use of NSA data, and about the very existence of SOD. Last year, at a press conference, President Obama reassured the nation that ''America isn't interested in spying on ordinary people.''  In other words, do not worry, because the information will only be used for narrow counterterrorism or broader foreign intelligence purposes. But the latest revelations show that these assurances too are a lie. The United States is now a mass surveillance state!

         Lack of his foreign leadership showed Obama to be indecisive, even afraid with an inability and unwillingness to face the many threats developing over these past three years. Mainly, not pushing the dreadful Nouri al-Maliki and his Iraqi government harder to allow a residual force to remain when troops withdrew in 2011. He was so obsessed with getting out of Iraq which he campaigned for in 2008 that he created a vacuum in terms of the ability of Iraq stabilize itself, and it's out of that vacuum that ISIS began to breed.

         With Afghanistan, Robert Gates  (photo right), Obama's first Secretary of Defence, writes in his book, ''Obama doubted his mission in that country and was sceptical if not outright convinced it would fail.''  What shocked him was his announcement of a date Obama said he  would pull the troops out, thereby giving the Taliban a perfect incentive to wait for the day after the exit to retake the country. Gates says, ''From the very beginning the president was more concerned about leaving Afghanistan than having a strategy on the ground.''

         No matter...that's old news. Just take heart that Ebola is not coming to the United States....um, well, if it does come there will be no outbreak....but, er, ''if there is an outbreak, we have careful protocols and healthcare professionals fully trained to deal with it.''  With 35 countries already having flight bans for anyone flying from the three African countries most affected, Obama says, ''I don't think it's necessary at this time.''

         OK....even if the protocols don't work and the professionals don't have adequate training, we''ll have a rigorous monitoring program for anyone who is exposed....or maybe a self-monitoring program for people who will isolate themselves....unless of course, we tell them to go ahead and hop on a plane. Well, look, at least we can promise there won't be a ''serious'' outbreak.



        This week the president cancelled a fundraiser and returned to the White House to deal with the crisis. He made a statement and came cross as about three days behind the story -- ''rapid response teams'' and so forth. He then, to prop up  his poor leadership, he appointed an Ebola Czar, which was something he previously rejected, to coordinate the government's response to the deadly virus. He announced that Democratic operative  Ron Klain (photo left) would be the new Ebola Czar. ''He'll control the message better than most people would, which is really important from a health standpoint even though he does not have any medical experience.'' said an anonymous White House official.  Another 'Spin-Doctor'' has been added to the White House staff!

       As you guessed it. President Obama , once finished with his announced appointment, quickly flew out and returned to his busy fundraising schedule. It reminded some people of the statement in July, during another crisis, of the president's communications director, who said that when the president rushes back to Washington ''it can have the unintended consequence of unduly alarming the American people.''  Yes, Americans are such sissies. Actually, when Mr Obama eschews a fundraiser to go to his office to deal with a public problem they are not scared....only surprised.


The Way I See It......mendacity and incompetence rules supreme in the Obama administration. With two more books released, one by Hillary Clinton and the other by Leon Panetta (photo right), giving an insight into what it was like working in the White House, up close and personal with a leaderless president. Panetta lands a hammer blow on his old boss; ''He approaches things like a law professor in presenting a logic of his position. My experience in Washington is that logic alone doesn't work. Once you lay out a position, you are going to roll up your sleeves and you have to fight to get it done. In order for Presidents to succeed, they cannot just....when they run into problems....step back and give up.''

I sense that Panetta is right about Obama's unwillingness to fight. Lately, the President's body language has too often conveyed disgust and cynicism. He seems defeated by the trivial pursuits of the media and his opponents. He does not have the sunny conviction necessary to carry the country through a period of near biblical plagues and wars. His policies and popularity (down to 41%) have been crippled by his dour political sense. A basic law of politics: ''this cannot last'', has been lost on him.  But I have no idea what comes next. God help America!