A key issue in this campaign has been whether Barack Obama has the experience to make significant decisions. We’ve seen partial answers to that question and they’ve not instilled confidence.
In his response(s) to the Russian invasion of Georgia, we saw Barack’s ability to adapt to new situations. Unfortunately his adapting came after his initial response to the invasion was horribly botched.
We’ve also seen Barack’s capability to be open and flexible in decisions making. In Obama’s position on:
- The immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
- Accepting public financing
- Handgun Bans
- Immunity for Telecom Companies
- Meeting with the leaders of terrorist nations with no preconditions
and most importantly, his desire to debate John McCain “anytime, anywhere,” we’ve seen Barack change his mind once he found that his earlier position was not politically expedient.
Finally, we’ve seen Barack recognize the limits of his own knowledge when at the Saddleback debate, in response to one of the most important questions politically and theologically, Barack Obama said it was “above my paygrade” to determine when life began.
Today, in an interview with ABC’s “Thisweek,” Barack Obama gave his “final answer” on whether he is ready to make key decisions. In a discussion about his tax policy and how/if he may alter it if the economy is weak, Barack said:
“Even if we’re still in a recession, I’m going to go through with my tax cuts,” Obama said. “That’s my priority.”
Whe further asked:
What about increasing taxes on the wealthy?
Obama replied:
“I think we’ve got to take a look and see where the economy is. I mean, the economy is weak right now,” Obama said on “This Week” on ABC. “The news with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, I think, along with the unemployment numbers, indicates that we’re fragile.”
With his first statement, Obama shows that he recognizes the importance of lower taxes. He tacitly admits that leaving money in family’s pocket books, rather than the government’s, is the right answer. Yeah for Barack! In his second statement, Barack confirms his inability to lead.
In his second statement, Barack confirms for us that the economy benefits from lower taxes even on those he considers “rich.” Why else would he hold imposing his taxes increase? They’re rich after all. Whether the economy is doing well or poorly doesn’t affect their “richness.” If they are by definition “rich” imposing additional taxes on them will do no more harm to them in a poor economy than in a good one. In fact, those who are “rich” tend to do better in poor economies because arguably, they are in a better position than others, to invest in assets that have depressed pricing. No, what Barack isn’t telling you, but what is inherent in his answer is that increasing taxes on the rich, has a negative impact on the economy. Barack doesn’t want to stomp out additional economic embers in a lackluster economy. He only wants to do it when the economy is good.
In this last answer we find the absolute worst kind of decision making by a leader; knowingly making the wrong and harmful decision because it is politically popular. That kind of decision is summed up musically in the following video:
Perhaps Barack Obama has a future doing the remake: “If taxing you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right!”
We should let him do what he needs to do. The “dear leader” knows what’s best for us much better than we do. /sarc