Obama’s Competency Collapse: Why The Campaigner-In-Chief Is Failing The Basic Tasks Of Governing

“The White House seems more comfortable stage-managing the news than dealing with the uncomfortable crises that inevitably crop up.” – National Journal‘s Josh Kraushaar

For years, President Obama has attempted to build a faux brand of competency in governing. He’s been called “the consummate competent professional in a crisis” and claimed last month that he “wants to govern” and not just play politics.

As the Obama administration continues to flail through its second term, the National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar pierces the competence argument and shows a president who’s better at managing the news than leading a nation.

Kraushaar began by criticizing Obama’s policy abroad, saying the president was legacy-building and “generating strategic photo-ops” while “Egypt is awash in revolution.” He goes on to bash Secretary of State Kerry’s attempts at Middle East peace talks as merely an attempt to gain favorable press, while appearing “utterly feckless in neighboring Syria.”

Now with the delay of the employer mandate in ObamaCare, Kraushaar wonder why Obama is silent as the main component of his presidential legacy is thrown into uncertainty. There was no speech or public explanation from the president. Instead, he sat “comfortably” on Air Force One as they “dropped the bombshell news right before the July 4 holiday weekend.”

“The administration is facing a crisis of competence. At a time when trust in government is already at an all-time low, the events of this past week illustrate the limits of this president’s power. The White House seems more comfortable stage-managing the news than dealing with the uncomfortable crises that inevitably crop up. (If there’s anything to learn from the Benghazi crisis, it was the administration’s attentiveness to detail in how to avoid blame in the aftermath of the crisis, but a lack of focus in how to react as the crisis was occurring.)”

 

Though Kraushaar focuses on more recent events, it doesn’t stop there. Remember Obama’s rambling April press conference where tortured answers on ObamaCare and musings if he “should just pack up and go home” left even Democrats scratching their heads. Or don’t forget the shifting White House account of when they were made aware of the IRS illegally targeting conservative groups.

Kraushaar closes with a damning indictment of Obama’s second term:

“On health care, with the 2014 midterms approaching and control of the Senate in play, the administration decided to buy time by delaying the employer mandate until after the elections. Former HHS spokesman Nick Papas said the delay was “about minimizing paperwork, not politics.” But it’s awfully politically convenient to delay implementation of a law that’s been growing more unpopular and whose implementation is shaping up to be a “train wreck,” in the words of Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat.

‘Obama’s second-term legacy is shaping up to be more about avoiding crises than accomplishing big things. Salvage the core of a health care law, avoid worst-case scenarios in Egypt and Syria, and don’t get in the way of his party’s efforts to win Republican support for a landmark immigration reform plan. It’s a far cry from the idealism of his second inaugural. But at this point, the president needs to simply show that he’s paying attention to the fires burning around him.”

It appears the sweeping rhetoric of the inaugural has given way to the reality of governing.