Mr. President, Please Do NOTHING

By Alan Caruba

I had a strange epiphany the other day. If I were to write a letter to President Obama, it would say, “Please do nothing.”

It seems to me that Obama’s forte is to do nothing much of the time. Well, not “nothing.” He is giving speeches, but those incessant, self-referencing speeches do nothing to change the minds of America’s critics and enemies. They have rapidly reached a point where Americans find them an object of ridicule.

I am not concerned about his playing golf; a lot of presidents did that. The pick-up basketball game is okay, too. The man is under a lot of pressure to “do something” about problems here in America and around the world, so it is only reasonable that he relax in ways that best suit him.

The effort, however, to do something is what worries me about President Obama because he is so wrong about his top two issues, healthcare reform and his renamed cap-and-trade tax on energy use.

He is wrong about the latter because there is no “global warming” (now called “climate change”) to justify penalizing everyone for turning on a light, watching TV, using their computer, and the million other ways we all use electricity.

He is wrong about healthcare reform because all the polls demonstrate that Americans want to (1) have a choice about whether to have health insurance and (2) like the insurance plans they’re in. He’s wrong, too, because (3) the government is incapable of “cutting waste and fraud” out of Medicare and because adding thousands more to the rolls (4) will require that other thousands are denied treatments they need in a timely manner.

So, naturally, I would prefer that he “do nothing” with regard to these pieces of legislation that are guaranteed to still further bankrupt America.

Looking beyond our shores, I would prefer that he “do nothing” in Afghanistan other than to withdraw our troops from there in the same way he says he’s doing in Iraq. Since I am convinced that he will “do nothing” regarding Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, I will put my money on tiny Israel to do for us what he will not.

Of course, if the U.S. did bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities that would constitute a “preemptive” act of war and this president has made it clear to the entire world that he has no intention of being warlike anywhere and, in addition, he wants to reduce our nuclear arsenal and shrink our military. He has, however, promised to make military service safe for gays.

I suggest that he is demonstrating what he does best—other than give speeches and television interviews—doing nothing. Or doing something stupid.

This is, after all, a man who voted “present” during much of his term in the Illinois state legislature and was so bored with doing nothing in the U.S. Senate, he began running for the presidency within weeks of being sworn in for his first term.

Every time Obama gets anywhere near a serious issue affecting the lives and welfare of the American people, he finds the worst possible solution the most enticing.

It is time to rest on your laurels, Mr. President. It is time to take a break from making bad or dumb decisions. No one expects or even wants you to do anything. That’s why you received the Nobel Peace Prize.

So, please, Mr. President, do nothing.

(Hint: Check out how he's holding the phone!)