Responsibility is a tricky thing to handle when you don’t want it, but
oh so simple when you need to have it. Presidents serve as the leader of our nation, and accept a great responsibility once they take their oath. Yes,
their power is derived from the consent of the governed, but we loan them our
power with great responsibility attached to it. As the President Himself has
said, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” That goes for the President
more than any other person in America.
So what is responsibility? The dictionary puts it like this:
Responsibility:
1: the quality or
state of being responsible: as
a: moral, legal, or mental accountability
b: reliability, trustworthiness
The president has had a lot of difficulty accepting the
responsibilities of his office, regardless of which definition you choose to
employ.
Remember this Mr. President? You’ve said it twice. It’s
supposed to MEAN something when you utter these words…
The President’s Oath
of Office:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of
my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States."
Just for reference, let’s take a look at what the
President’s job is, according to the Constitution…
Excerpts from Article II of the U.S. Constitution (The
Presidency):
“The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when
called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective
offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses
against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”
“He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges
of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such
inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts
of law, or in the heads of departments.”
“…he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”
It’s not complicated to understand
what is expected of the President. The President has a lot of responsibility
placed upon him when he (or she) assumes that role. If you enter the race, you
better know what you’re running for. You can’t campaign for two years hoping to
become the president, and then get upset when the people hold you accountable
to the responsibilities of your office.
When you run for President, just as
when you apply for any job, you are asking to bear all of the responsibilities
that come with that office. You, of course, want the benefits of that job, but if you don’t
understand the responsibilities you will undertake, then you shouldn’t ask to hold the position. The
fact is, more often than not the President is not directly responsible for
failures within his administration. However, as the elected leader of the free
world, we expect the President to be a true leader, and a true leader accepts
responsibility for the failures of those to whom they have delegated power,
even when they have no direct involvement in the situation (It would be
different if we forced people to be President instead of electing them from a
pool of volunteers, but obviously that’s not the case). A true leader says to
him/herself, “While I was not the one to create the problem, it happened on my
watch, and involved people that I am charged with overseeing. This failure may
not have been my fault directly, but it is wholly my responsibility to right
the wrong, and restore confidence and trust in my people/my company/my
administration/my family/my country/myself.”
Failures happen, every day. We do
our best to prevent and prepare for turmoil and tragedy, but despite our best
efforts things go wrong. We are human beings, and part of being human is making
mistakes. Mistakes in general are unavoidable, but specific mistakes can be
stopped before they ever happen if we pay attention, and consider the
individual situations at hand. The key to minimizing failure is amassing as
much information as possible, weighing options, and making what we perceive to
be the best choice at that moment in time for ALL of those whom that decision
will affect. A good leader does this by nature, and stands by all of his/her
decisions because of it. If you know you made a valid, honest judgment call,
and that you considered all of the information and all of the options, you
should have no problem sticking to your guns and standing by your decision. On
the flip side, if you know you made an uninformed, partisan decision based on
what you WANT to see happen rather than what is actually true, then you’re
gonna have a tough time defending your decision. When a good leader makes a
decision the right way, they stick to it whether it ends well or not. When any
poor leader makes what the public perceives to be a good decision, they will
stand by it. But when a poor leader makes a choice that ends badly and makes
the people look upon him unfavorably, they deflect blame and refuse to take
responsibility. The same scenario takes place when subordinates make decisions.
Good leaders who believe in the integrity of their people will defend them and
still take responsibility for their decisions, regardless of outcomes. When
failures happen due to negligence or ignorance, the people involved are held
accountable, and when necessary they are relieved of their duties. At the same
time, when the best possible solution is honestly pursued and something still
goes awry, a good leader stands by the decisions of his people, takes
responsibility for fixing the problem, and follows up to find out what went
wrong, why, and how to prevent the same mistakes from being repeated in the
future. A true leader wants the best opportunities for everyone, wants to see
real solutions when problems arise, and employs people who reflect those same
sentiments. That is why a true leader will take responsibility when someone
under them does something stupid. They put that person there, so they most
certainly bear at least some responsibility for their decisions. The key in all
of these situations is the same: A true leader looks for the best solution,
rather than the best looking or most popular one, and will always stand by
their decisions, and the decisions of those who work/serve under them,
regardless of the consequences. Poor leaders will do none of these. If you can't stand by your own choices and those of your own surrogates, why should the American people trust you?
It is my firm belief that the job
of President of the United States is a privilege for all who are elected to the
office, but it is also the most important job on Earth. As such, I believe that
it bears the greatest amount of power AND responsibility of any job that a
human being could hold in the world today. Furthermore, any person who decides
that they are 1) capable of serving as President and 2) willing to do the job,
MUST accept the immense responsibility that comes with serving in that office.
In simple terms, if you run for President, you must be willing to accept
responsibility for everything that goes wrong on your watch, just as you will
certainly take credit for all of the good things that happen. If you’re not
willing to take responsibility for things that you had no direct involvement
in, and if you’re going to take offense when people question your leadership
after failures happen, and if you refuse to stand by your own decisions or
those of your administration’s officials, then you have no business asking the
American people to vote for you. If you feel you have to hide a decision you’ve
made or an action that you’ve taken (excluding matters of security that would
put lives at risk if publicly discussed), then you’ve obviously made an
indefensible mistake. If you can’t take responsibility for that mistake, you
shouldn’t be President. If you can’t take the heat, then get the hell out of
the seat. That goes for Congressional leaders, party leaders and every single
politician who volunteers to run for office, and asks you and me to trust them
with our vote. Asking for my vote is to ask to bear responsibility for every
political event that affects me. Giving you my faith and confidence is fully
dependent upon what happens to me on your watch. Local events land in the lap
of local politicians. State events fall on State politicians. National events
are the responsibility of Congress and, most of all, the President. That's just
the way it is. Washington is not a Kindergarten classroom, and the “It wasn’t
me” argument doesn’t cut it with the American people. It didn't cut it when
Bush was president, the media made sure of that. It wouldn't have mattered
anyway, because President Bush was never the "I have no clue" President.
He and his administration made mistakes throughout the course of his presidency,
and only a blind partisan would argue that point. But George W. Bush never once
stood in front of the American people and said "Don't look at me, 9/11
wasn't MY fault" or "It wasn't MY decision to go into Iraq and look
for WMD’s" or “I didn’t tell anyone to put that ‘Mission Accomplished’
sign up there” or "You'll have to ask Health and Human Services about
Medicare Part D, that's got nothing to do with me." (FYI, these are just
examples. I’m not saying all of these were or were not mistakes, but they were
all events that Bush was challenged heavily on). Bush never would have tried to
convince us that if he didn't utter the words, sign the document or push the
button, then he bore no responsibility for the consequences. That's not the
kind of leader he was. If he ever did deflect the blame for something, he would
have been vilified instantly and vehemently, by every media outlet, and for
good reason.
The press exists for the purpose of holding people accountable to
the truth. But with the exception of a few commentators, the mainstream media
has all but given up on truth, opting instead to be an extension of the government’s
power, rather than a restriction of it. The press has allowed Obama and his
administration to take advantage of their positions. It has made the American
people blind to the corruption taking place behind the media curtain. They’ve
praised Obama for the “good” things he’s done, and blamed Republicans in
Congress for all of the bad (the true failures, as well as things that are good
for the country but the media and the President happen to disagree with). The
White House waves its hand in front of the cameras saying “We’re not the ones you’re
looking for” and the media jumps right to their defense. Somehow now, amid a
week long bout with 3 different scandals, people are shocked that the President
has the stones to tell us he knew nothing, and bears no responsibility for
anything going on with Benghazi, the IRS, or the Justice Department? Well duh!
That’s what he’s done for the better part of 5 years, because he had the media
at his side to back him up on it. However, there may be a clearing in the fog
ahead, and we’ve seen that some in the media may be starting to remember why
they are actually here.
The American media has been fawning
over Barack Obama since the day he stepped out onto the stage at the 2004
Democratic National Convention. As a candidate in 2008, they refused to vet
him, or his associates, and attacked anyone who dared to do so. As President, they've
never held him accountable for anything his administration has done, let alone
things he is directly responsible for. The only reason Obama feels he can get
away with playing ignorant is because he has come to rely on the media backing
him up on whatever he does. They've shown us this past week that they will ask
some tough questions when they are threatened, which is exactly what happened
once the AP phone records story broke. A hundred people’s phone records were
seized by the Justice Department, in what they are saying was part of an investigation
of a national security leak. The press is pushing back now, because they see
these actions as a direct blow to their first amendment rights, perpetrated by
their idol Obama, and his administration. It comes as quite a shock to them,
because they've protected these guys to the point that they've given up on the
ideal of pursuing the truth, wherever it may lead them. They sold their
souls-what was left of them- to this administration. Now that they know their
absolute protection of the President and his people does not guaranty them the
same absolute protection in return, they've started asking a few tough
questions. They're calling the IRS debacle a scandal like the rest of us, even
calling out administration officials who are dismissing the whole thing as a
rogue occurrence of "inappropriate but legal" behavior. They’re even calling
foul on the claim that the actions of the IRS were not based in politics. Let
me be blunt folks: anyone that will look you in the eye and admit that
conservative groups were targeted for more aggressive scrutiny, but argue that
it was not politically motivated, is either in on it, or just plain stupid. I'd
like to believe the latter, but unfortunately we know these people are actually
quite intelligent and methodical. But I digress…
Some members of the media are even
changing their tone on Benghazi, admitting that the State Department did in
fact lie to the American people about what happened during the attack on our
diplomatic mission there on the night of September 11, 2012. Let's not kid
ourselves, not everyone is convinced. Many never will be. But testimonies and
emails clearly show that the State Department edited the talking points that
they relayed to the American people, in order to take heat away from the
administration for the lack of security at that facility, which they knew had
been requested and denied. They didn’t want the attack to hurt the State
Department or the President’s reelection bid, so they changed the facts and
pushed the narrative that the attack was a response to an internet video about
Mohammad, having nothing to do with terrorists or terrorism. We know, of
course, that this was far from the truth. It's not speculation or Republican
conspiracy theory folks, it's irrefutable fact. The only viable justification
for lying to us might have been national security, but the FBI stated in its
emails that they had no problem with the original version, and that the
original talking points, which asserted that terrorists linked to al Qaeda were involved in the attack, would not have hindered their investigation, nor
threatened national security. The administration is still claiming no wrong was
done, we on the right are still hammering hard, and now some of the mainstream
press is waking up too. If it continues, then Obama and his surrogates are
living on borrowed time, and their deceptions of the American people will
eventually be their undoing. If the scrutiny we’ve seen this past week continues,
with some of the press having removed their heads from the collective rear end
of the Obama administration, then it's only a matter of time before the lies,
the intimidation and the corruption come crashing down on the White House. As I
said, we don't play "it wasn't me" in America. As more information is
revealed about the scandal trifecta that's unfolding in Washington, we will come
closer and closer to the inevitable day when- Jeremiah Wright should love this
-when Barack Obama's chickens come home to roost. When that day finally comes,
Obama will brazenly tell us that it wasn't his fault, and that he's not
responsible, because that's the kind of "leader" he is. He's a man
concerned with his own reputation, his own legacy and his own twisted view of
what America is, and should be. He couldn’t care less about truth or the way
things actually are. His mind sees only what he WANTS his job to be: a means to
an end, the end being the downfall of America as we know her. It's not about
BEING a good leader for him, it's about being PERCEIVED as one, because that
perception is vital to achieving his goals. And THAT, my friends, is why
President Obama refuses to take responsibility for any of the corruption that
goes on around him. He believes that if he takes responsibility for his
administration's failures and wrongdoings, he will not be seen as a good leader,
and he will tarnish his presidency, and his legacy, ruining all the work he’s
done to undermine America and her values. The irony of the situation is that if
he would just come out and admit that these things have happened, declare that
the buck stops with him and start sending people packing (who haven't already
decided to leave), then there would be little to no ground for his opponents to
stand on- unless of course it came to light that he was actively involved in
these scandals, and sanctioned each of the decisions in question...there's some
food for thought... But again, I digress...
The "illumination" that
has taken place in the last 10 days is only illumination to some. To others of
us, it’s more confirmation that President Obama is wrong for America. Many of
us have questioned Obama's leadership from the beginning, and now, suddenly,
more people actually want to see the truth. It's a shame that it takes a direct
hit to the media's liberty for them to choose to bring light to the truth. They
should be defending EVERYONE’S liberty, at all times. Their behavior thus far
has been inexcusable. "Better late than never" and "I told you
so" just don't quite seem to cover it. I can only say that I hope this
slight revitalization of American journalism finds a way to last, and grows stronger.
We know now that the IRS scandal
was deliberately hidden until after the election, which shows that the
administration was more concerned with preserving Obama’s presidency than it
was with actually doing its job, and being honest with the American people. The
same is true of the State Department’s actions concerning the truth of what happened in Benghazi. And I
believe the seizures executed by the Justice Department concerning AP were held
over until now in an effort to keep the media from turning on the
administration until a time when they felt they could afford the backlash. But why all of the delay
and deception? Simple: they wanted a two term Obama, and they hoped that letting the
truth about these events come out in the first year of his second term,
rather than before the 2012 election, the people
would have forgotten about it by the end of Obama’s 8th year. Their sole concern has been the president’s
“legacy”. Hell, we know now that the question that sparked the IRS
"apology" was actually a planted question. It doesn't get more
obvious than that folks. We know that the IRS targeted enemies of the administration and then
hid that fact during the election. We know they lied to us bout Benghazi to shield themselves from blame and scrutiny. And we know AP cooperated with the government concerning this "national security leak," only releasing their story to the public after the Obama administration cleared it for public viewing. So, why should we believe a word Obama says about not knowing what's going on around him? His administration has been built upon lies, and his word can't be trusted. They’ve all proven that they can’t be trusted. I'll tell you this, if you believe there's anything that goes on in Washington that President Obama isn't privy to, I've got some ocean front property in Illinois to sell you. Obama came from the Chicago political machine, and he's as narcissistic as they come- micromanagement is in his blood, folks.
The bottom line of the past week is
this: Barack Obama is not a real leader, never has been, and never will be. A
real leader doesn’t hide the truth from the American people to avoid harm to
his agenda, his reputation, or his legacy, a coward with an agenda does. A real leader comes clean, lets us
know what has happened, vows to make it right with the American people, and then
keeps his word to that end. Unlike Ronald Reagan during the Iran Contra
scandal, Obama will never admit to the American people that he’s responsible
for his administration. It’s pathetic, and it shows his complete lack of any leadership ability. I’ve got news for the White
House- we’re not going to let this go quietly into the night, and we won’t soon
let Obama or his Cabinet, or anyone else working within this administration,
forget what they have done to the American people, and what little “trust” in government
we had left. With some luck, this just may lead to a happy November 2014...but
I digress...
Stay Strong, and Keep Fighting for the Truth
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