Obama's Fundamental Failure

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln said that. And it is as true today as in 1860. I thought of the famous Lincoln saying last night when I was following the day's US presidential campaign news. In 2008, America handed almost unbridled power to Barak Obama. He handled it while he had a Democrat Congress and could force through his unpopular Obamacare health care overhaul. But things changed dramatically in 2010 when the Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives, thus denying President Obama his unconstrained capacity to govern as he pleased. The failure of Obama was his inability to understand that the power game he had been playing was over. Instead of compromising to accomplish his program in a less than 100% way, Obama dug in his heels and refused to do business with the GOP-controlled House. The result was that nothing got done - no budget, no debt reduction, no tax policy revision, no job creation, nothing. That stalemate went on until the 2012 presidential campaign heated up. Then, when faced with a GOP that confronted him with his record consisting of nothing but the still unpopular Obamacare, President Obama made a conscious decision to blame his miserable record on President Bush and the 2010 GOP House. Let's just take a few of Obama's recent failures -- failure to lead in the Middle East, failure to take the moral high ground concerning the al-Assad regime genocide in Syria, failure to create a job policy to lift America out of its economic hole, failure to protect American diplomats in dangerous posts, failure to secure Afghanistan against a resurgent Taliban. And now, as Mitt Romney and the GOP point out these failures, the President has made another conscious choice. Instead of answering the charges, he is calling Mitt Romney a liar and spending his time on jokes about Big Bird. Oh yes. He also said "I had a bad night" when asked about his abysmal performance against Romney in the first presidential debate. "To test a man's character give him power" - and with power Obama enacted one, count them, one piece of major legislation...Obamacare, that his American electors opposed. "Most men can stand adversity" - as power slipped from his grasp, Obama refused to compromise with the Congress his American electors chose for him and blamed others for his own failures. And when things got really tough after the last debate, Obama resorted to character assassination against a man who is known for his upright character. Conclusion? Dear readers, I would say that Barak Obama has failed in both adversity and power positions. That is the reason, finally, why he is losing in the polls and at debates, and will continue to lose...on November 6th. Americans put high value on being a good winner AND a good loser. Obama has failed both tests.