Pondering the Obama Enigma

By Alan Caruba

On January 2, 2010, I posted a commentary to my blog, “Obama’s Make-Believe Life.” Someone picked it up, slapped the phony name of Eddie Sessions on it, and then alleged that it has been published in The Wall Street Journal. That commentary has literally gone around the world several times on the Internet. Hardly a day goes by that I do not receive an email asking to confirm if I wrote it or the Journal published it.

Like everyone else, since the 2008 campaign and the years since Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office in 2009 I have tried to figure out “the truth” about him. Who is he? What does he stand for? What are his guiding principles and values? Where is he taking the nation?

On June 9th, addressing an audience at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said, “You cannot lead by being a mystery. You cannot lead by being an enigma. You cannot lead by being aloof.”

Many books have been published about Obama and I have read quite a few. With the exception of his two memoirs, those who delved deeply into the known facts of his life did not like what they found.

In the years since he assumed office, many Americans have come to the same conclusion, often as the result of having been victimized by policies that have exacerbated the harm done to the economy after the financial industry incurred a meltdown; itself a victim of federal government’s housing agencies and banking policies.

Instead of stepping back from the precipice, government under the Obama administration engineered the takeover of one sixth of the economy with the passage of Obamacare, acquired a major interest in two leading automobile companies, invested and lost billions in “clean energy” companies, and via the Environmental Protection Agency has asserted virtual control over manufacturing and other sectors by falsely claiming that carbon dioxide is a “pollutant” that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

While this was occurring the amount of debt incurred has reached historical heights, now somewhere near $17 trillion dollars, actually exceeding the value of the Gross Domestic Product, the amount of money earned by American industry and other business enterprises.

Barack Hussein Obama remains an enigma. Since my 2010 commentary I have written others that concluded that he is “a moron” and “a Communist.” I know these are harsh judgments, but not being a psychiatrist, I have been reluctant to venture into psychological areas. Instead I have concluded that he is one of those over-educated fools that is devoid of an understanding of history and of common sense and that his biography clearly demonstrates an affinity with Communism in terms of his upbringing and choice of associates.

There are other unsavory aspects to Obama’s life, not the least of which is his two decade association with a racist and anti-Semite, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and others of his ilk. Never forget Rev. Wright’s condemnation of America as the cause, not the victim of 9/11, when he said “God damn America:, absolving Islam of any blame.

At this point, four months out from the election, I was stunned to read that Obama believes his “biggest mistake” was to concentrate too much on policy and not enough “to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.”

Few Presidents come to mind who have been as divisive as Obama and there is no evidence beyond his vague, unfilled promise of “hope and change” that he has inspired anyone. He has “told a story” to Americans unceasingly in every venue possible.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected three times precisely because he conveyed “a story” to voters of the era of the Great Depression that kept them believing he knew how to solve its problems. Instead, like Obama, he expanded what was always intended to be a limited federal government into a monolith. Obama has expanded it.

What I found most striking, however, was Obama’s belief that his vaunted talent for delivering a speech had failed him. He confessed to CBS News’s Charlie Rose that not only had he failed to “explain”, but also to “inspire.”

Like everything else about Obama, this struck me as a calculated lie. I don’t think he or his spokespersons have ever told the voters the truth. If his confession is to be taken on face value, he also has not grasped that Americans have been rejecting his “solutions” to all the problems he blamed on George W. Bush because those solutions were an anathema to them.

Between blaming Bush and all previous Presidents, events in other parts of the world, and his concentration on “policy”, Obama appears to be ignorant of the fact that his policies have failed—more than forty months of unemployment—and the rejection of his “signature” piece of legislation that will massively increase taxation. Add to this his failure to understand that there are two other branches of government with whom he was expected to work, indeed to compromise, and to obey!

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of his confession is the fact this he has been the most visible and vocal President in modern history, forever on the stump, forever seeking the spotlight, and always, always, always talking about “me” and “I”.

© Alan Caruba, 2012