The Patriot Post® · Is the President 'Done' Being President?
On the 2008 presidential campaign trail, Barack Obama couldn’t get enough of the public adulation and praise rained on him. And in the earlier days of his presidency, the “I” keys on his speechwriters’ keyboards surely must have faded from overuse. Now that Obama has a sustained taste of the realities of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he’s learning that Americans don’t take too well to his abusing presidential powers. And his disenchantment with the role is becoming more and more apparent.
A recent article in The Hill raised the question, “Is Obama done with Washington?” The piece pointed to little things like unscheduled forays beyond the Rose Garden to a local Starbucks and burger joint, as well as bigger observations about Obama’s increasing frustration with Beltway gridlock. Indeed, last week he once again complained of Washington’s inability to “do anything” in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting, and he’s frequently stated his willingness to bypass Congress and issue orders fit for a king – and that’s no compliment.
According to former White House spokesperson and long-time Obama staffer Tommy Vietor, Obama is “at a point in his presidency where he’s not running for anything ever again and feels very free to speak his mind.” Democrat strategist Jamal Simmons agrees, saying of Obama, “I think he finds the pettiness of this place annoying.” Yet no one is more petty than Obama. Simmons continued, “People are focused on tactics, not results, and he sees himself as a more results-oriented guy. He’s more wiling to do things with a longer lens of history.” Of course, his ever-so-long lens of history is blurry as he deems the Constitution optional, Rule of Law an annoyance and the principles of democratic republicanism primitive when compared with his pen and his phone.
In essence, Obama’s being “done” with Washington is just another sign of his petulant narcissism and emotional approach to governance. In fact, as The Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher points out, if Obama is done being president, “[I]t’s not his fault. It’s never his fault. It’s your fault, America.”
You see, Obama wants so-called “results” – his way or no way. But Thomas Jefferson noted republican government is “slow to move.” In Federalist No. 51, James Madison eloquently described a system of checks and balances that lumber along at a pace of half-past-yesterday but would protect freedom through each party’s “keeping each other in their proper places.” Yet, in Obama’s enlightened frustration, he rued three years into his presidency that “our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes.”
If there’s one consolation we can offer the president, though, it’s that if he’s tired of being America’s president, the feeling is mutual. In fact, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found Obama’s approval rating tied with a previous low of 41%, while 54% said they no longer think Obama “is able to lead the country and get the job done.” So, if he prefers sipping lattes at Starbucks to serving as president, let’s just say he’s free to relinquish the keys to the White House any time.