President Obama withstands the enormous pressures of the presidency well and stays cool under pressure -- this is to be appreciated. His "No-drama Obama" style is reassuring for the leader of the free world, especially given this president's lack of prior senior management experience.
But I am scratching my head about his seeming detachment from the huge crises we face in the first quarter of 2011. I don't deny him his right to golf, pick NCAA winners and focus his weekend radio address on gender inequality. But, jeepers, his detachment seems misplaced in light of the triple tragedy in Japan and the bipartisan efforts to avoid a government shutdown. The president appears to lack basic leadership moxie for both crises.
While President Obama has made humanitarian moves on Japan, on Wednesday the Obama administration undercut the Japanese government by urging a nuclear safe zone for Americans in Japan four times the distance declared by the Japanese government. Imagine the reaction of this crowded island nation whose inhabitants have nowhere to go. Japan has 127 million residents in its 146,000 square miles, while the United States has 308 million people in its 3.8 million square miles. That means Japan is more than 100 times as densely populated as the United States.
Imagine if in response to our 1979 Three-Mile Island, Pennsylvania, disaster we were urged by the world's most responsible superpower to evacuate the New York-to-Washington corridor while we were also trying to deal with power blackouts, an earthquake, a tsunami and some 10 million displaced people! If President Obama is correct, Japan faces an unspeakably bigger tragedy. If Obama is wrong, he has done a huge disservice to an ally in desperate need. I am not a scientist, but I am perplexed at the president's actions and the impact they must be having in Japan.
Moreover, the American people have been panicked into buying up the world supply of potassium iodine pills, thanks to careless Obama administration comments and our sensationalist media. So the Japanese people who may really need these pills have no ability to obtain them. The Japanese people have been the model of cooperation, resilience and stoicism. By contrast, despite our immediate and large personal and corporate charitable outpouring and military assistance, the U.S. media and federal government have been, at best, reckless, and at worst, harmful.
Domestically, the United States faces a budget crisis. Our government may be shut down because of a lack of agreement on how much and what to cut in the budget. President Obama wisely saw it coming and created a bipartisan deficit commission, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The commission nobly produced strong recommendations supported by most of its members. But from the State of the Union address and beyond, President Obama has dropped the ball. Not only has he ignored the commission proposals, but also, as many Democrats in Congress complain, he has been absent in any meaningful ways from congressional budget talks.
A crisis is not just an opportunity: it is also a mandate for leaders. It is not the time for opinion polls or re-election posturing. These crises affect millions of people and how we define ourselves as Americans.
I suggest some presidential focus even if it means a delayed trip, recreation or campaigning. We are a great nation and we need and want a great focused, engaged president.
Leaders lead. We need leadership we can believe in.
Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents more than 2,000 technology companies and owns and produces the International CES. Shapiro is the author of The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream.
Follow Gary Shapiro on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GaryShapiro
Richard Grenell: Bring Back the French Fries!
In Japan, the President must safeguard the lives and health of American citizens and military personnel in the area. His advisors on this subject stated a 50 Mile zone was necessary, so that was the order. In light of the growing discontent that the Japanese people are having with their own government in this disaster, Obama acted responsibly. The truth is this is worse than Three-Mile Island and as such a greater perimeter is required. I'm sorry if you think Obama should have done otherwise as to protect the 'ignorance' that was coming from circles in Tokyo, but the truth is nonetheless the truth. The steadfastness of the Japanese people demonstrates that they can indeed handle the truth, not matter the messenger.
On the budget deficit, Obama's strategy is blatantly obvious here as we move into the 2012 election cycle. Stop viewing this President through a narrow kaleidoscope and start thinking about outcomes and reasoning.
The best leader is the one who is so selfless and effective at getting people to work together on a project that is presence is nearly invisible.
He's tried that. Didn't work............................
Unfortunately, if a politician really were like the Master then he could never be re-elected because nobody would believe that he had done anything.
I think Obama is an "ok" president; he's doing his best. I would have him over McCain any day.
Your masters have moved good American jobs in electronic manufacturing and assembly off shore to places that treat their employees like slaves. Wouldn't your time be better spent reminding your member companies about the economic advantages of using American workers.
Many companies have found that the long supply chains are overall more expensive. Just ask GE who is moving some manufacturing back to the USA.
I'll just focus on one, the unrest through the entire Middle East. Obama clearly showed that he understood the applicable international law, when he called Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. Then, he backed down, and now he is paying for the illegal behavior. Why?
Our immediate and long term interest as a country is with our oil suppliers. And our position with these people would improve immeasurably, if we recognized the root of the Palestinian problem and began talking about it. Instead, we've retracted our position from legally correct to a sponsor of more illegal settlements.
Of course, the reason is domestic pressure from the pro-Israel lobbies. And as usual, Timid Barack has caved into pressure. So, given his performance on the three most important issues America faces, can we expect any better from Obama in the future? Probably not!
The choices for the future (2112?) seem to be really foreboding, don't they.
Obama is not stupid. The evidence is clear. He is intentionally going after working Americans. He is all for wars. Obama is a neo con.
So instead of collecting revenues, we borrowed money! Cute trick. Instead of informing people that our Social Democracies run best on collective revenues at all levels, we were told to 'buy' things ... those giving our precious money to mega-corporations (sort of like private taxation) that ends up paying CEO salaries, off shore development, mergers, advertising and share holder profits.
Time for a Great Renewal. Change the paradigm but changing: the language, policies, laws, organizations, institutions and behaviors.
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Hosted in Las Vegas, NV, the "Protecting Borders"-themed International CES
Government 2011 Conference features executive training in cyber security."
Members represent a cross section of the government contractor community. more..
. CES Government Conference. Held each January in Las Vegas, ... it is tied to
the most significant technology event of the year, International CES. ...
Beware of the following website....my computer calls it questionable.
www.upsonvito.com/AboutUs.aspx -
"The fourth annual CES Government Conference is set to take place January 8-10, 2009 at the Ritz-Carlton in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. The focus of this year’s premiere government technology showcase is on cybersecurity and the event will be held in conjunction with International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. Among the impressive list of scheduled speakers for CES Gov this year are: former Congressman Tom Davis, Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy, General Dynamics CIO and vice president for information technology Woody Hall, and former CIO of the Department of National Intelligence Dale Meyerrose."
http://blog.executivebiz.com/2008/12/cybersecurity-headlines-ces-government-2009-conference/
Leaders need to look assertive, decisive, and in control. That is what people look for in a leader during a crisis. I'm not saying they should be reactionary, but they need to portray this type of image no matter what is going on behind the scenes. It is basic PR.
When one's actions are rash and motivated by self-will, and are untempered with wisdom, that isn't helpful either.
As our president, Obama now has a 2+ year track record of indecision. In fact, his next decision will be his FIRST.
Obama was elected because of a masterful "PR" program. If we didn't know better, it would appear he is still campaigning for the job.
1. Hate Obama because he's "different", "exotic", and a democrat.
2. Paint Obama as not a "leader" because he hasn't run a privately owned business.
3. Make your partisan complaints about him appear to NOT be partisan, but a 'legitimate' beef with his "lack of leadership skills", which are due to (see #2).
4. Add credibility to this argument by having CEO's give backhanded compliments to Obama about how much they "like" him, (to appear bipartisan) but then blast him as not possessing "leadership abilities" (which, again, are due to #2).