Tag Archives: POTUS

national news, political news

Transition from Somebody to Nobody

I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about these things, but the thought has crossed my mind: What is it like for someone to transition from being the most powerful man in the world to, oh, just another Ordinary Joe?

That is what awaits Barack H. Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia and Sasha.

At noon Friday, President Obama becomes just another guy, a citizen who will get to drive his own car, open his own doors, sleep in if he wants and relax with his family.

He follows a tradition set by dozens of other men who’ve had the good fortune to survive their presidencies and transition to a new life … that resembles the way it used to be before they became the planet’s most powerful figure.

I don’t know how President Obama feels about all this. His body language, though, tells me he’s ready to get out of Dodge. He’ll fly to California on that big blue jet that’s called Air Force One when the president is on board. He’ll play some golf, eat some relaxing meals with his wife and daughters, read, write and relax.

It might be arguably a little more of an adjustment for Barack Obama than he’ll be willing to admit. You see, I’ve long noticed one thing about this president: From the very beginning of his two terms, he seemed to own the office he occupied.

Why do I say that? I was struck for eight years how he would use the first-person singular pronoun when referencing the government he led. He would mention “my national security team,” “my vice president,” “my attorney general.”

I once wrote that the government didn’t belong to the president. It belongs to us — you and me. The president merely is our hired hand elected to the job by virtue of getting more electoral votes than anyone else.

In just a few hours, the 44th president will surrender that immense power to the 45th president. Then he becomes an average guy — so to speak.

Barack Obama is likely to prove me wrong by adjusting just fine to his new life. At least I hope he does.

Well done, Mr. President.

national news, political news

No talk of polls these days from POTUS-elect

Polls became something of a linchpin of Donald J. Trump’s successful campaign for the presidency.

He boasted about them continually when they showed him leading his Republican Party primary rivals. He ridiculed other GOP candidates for failing to break the 1 or 2 percent barrier.

Then he got nominated and he started bragging as the general election campaign raced toward the finish line and polls showed him closing the gap with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Polls are up? They’re good. Polls go down? They’re “rigged.”

Well, the president-elect has some more polling data with which to contend. These are the polls that show Trump to be about the least popular president-elect in decades.

Barack Obama became president with an approval rating at nearly 80 percent. George W. Bush took office in 2001 also with soaring public approval ratings.

Trump’s ratings? They’re at 40 percent or less, depending on the polls you see.

Think of this, too: The president-elect hasn’t done anything! He’s made no difficult decisions that are bound to anger millions of Americans.

Transitions historically have been the high-water mark for presidents of the United States. The next president starts at a much lower platform than most of his predecessors.

What about these polls, Mr. President-elect?

national news, political news

Get ready for chaos at the top

Donald J. Trump ran the most unconventional presidential campaign in history.

He is now running the most unconventional presidential transition in most folks’ memory.

Does this all portend the most unconventional presidency, one fraught with chaos and, as Politico reports, “empty desks”?

Let’s all hold on.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-transition-agencies-233811

The president-elect takes office at noon on Friday. His predecessor will no longer be The Man. That title passes quietly, peacefully and seamlessly (one should hope) to Trump.

But is he ready? There appears to be growing concern that he isn’t. The Trump administration will take office without most of its Cabinet heads confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Indeed, some of them might not be confirmed over questions ranging from lack of knowledge of public education policy, stock purchases of companies that benefit from legislation pursued by a Cabinet nominee and another appointee’s close personal friendship with Vladimir Putin.

National security posts are unfilled. The world is dangerous, jittery and fraught with peril on many fronts. The Trump team hasn’t yet prepared to take its post.

I don’t know about you, but I long have appreciated how previous presidents have assumed power. I have admired the preparation they have completed. Democrats and Republicans alike all have done their homework. They all have moved cleanly and swiftly to fill key posts. The transition from one administration to another — George W. Bush to Barack Obama, Bill Clinton to George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton — all have been testaments to the fundamental concept of “peaceful transfer of power” that is so American in nature and scope.

When Democrats hand power over to Republicans — and vice versa — it’s all gone mostly hitch-free.

That feeling is missing in action as Barack Obama prepares to hand the immense power of the presidency to Donald J. Trump.

media news, national news

Tweeter in chief doesn’t appreciate majesty of his office

In just a couple of days, Donald J. Trump is going to become the 45th president of the United States of America.

He’ll be head of state of the greatest nation on Earth. And, yes, it’s still the greatest nation, Mr. President-elect.

It’s fair to ask, given this fellow’s use of Twitter as his primary mode of communication: Does he truly understand the majesty attached to the office he is about to assume?

Trump has tossed countless conventional norms into the dumper on his way to become president. He has gotten away with countless insults, boorish stunts and profoundly bizarre statements. All of them — or any one of them — would have disqualified him in the eyes of voters.

Instead, his supporters stiffened their spines. They stood behind him. They cheered him on for “telling it like it is.” Good grief!

They also are cheering on his Twitter taunts and tirades. They, like their man, are giving raspberries to the very office that Trump is about to inherit.

He uses Twitter, in the words of some pundits, to “punch down” at critics. Presidents of the United States are supposed to be better than that; they’re supposed to hold themselves above the petty bickering that erupts all around them.

Twitter is supposed to be a tool reserved for schmucks — like, oh, yours truly — to fire off barbs or share others’ barbs.

Not so with the president-elect of the United States of America.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that he doesn’t appreciate the grandeur of the office he sought — and won! He has had zero dealings with any of its previous occupants.

He acknowledged meeting President Obama for the first time after the election. And this comes after he spent years questioning out loud whether Barack Obama was qualified to hold the office. You know … the birther baloney.

You know, there at least is the remote possibility that after he takes the oath, bids good bye to the Obama family and then settles in behind the Oval Office desk he might appreciate the immense power and tradition of the presidency.

He might …

I am not holding my breath.

 

national news, political news

Hoping the presidency shapes the man

I am going to offer a word of hope in something that none of us can guarantee will occur.

It’s been said that the presidency either shapes the individual or the individual shapes the presidency.

My sincere hope as we head toward the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States that the former takes place.

How will that present itself? Let’s start with the president-elect’s use of Twitter to make policy statements, to answer critics or to rattle the cages of foreign leaders.

We cannot know how the new president will conduct himself once he takes the oath. Trump has demonstrated time and again a reluctance to adhere to established norms as it relates to transitioning from private citizens to the most public of officials.

He says he’ll dial back the use of Twitter as a communications tool. I hope he does. For that matter, I hope he eliminates it and speaks with more reflection, nuance and decorum than he has shown through these Twitter tirades that come usually early in the morning.

It has been said that here in Texas, Rick Perry remade the governor’s office. He turned a traditionally weak office into a more powerful venue. Perry served as governor longer than anyone in Texas history and left a virtually indelible mark on the office through the myriad appointments he made to the state’s highest courts and its many boards and commissions.

Donald Trump will get to make a similar mark on the presidency through his own appointments. He’ll get to select a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, probably soon. I hope that he tilts more toward a centrist appointment, which might be yet another indicator of the office shaping the individual who occupies it.

Will the next president bow to the office or will he seek to remake it in his own image?

I’ll keep hoping for the first thing to occur … and soon!

national news, political news

Feeling ‘rejected’ by outgoing POTUS

I was overcome tonight with a strange feeling of rejection by someone who doesn’t know I exist.

“60 Minutes” broadcast a special report tonight looking back on the two terms of President Barack Obama, who leaves office in five days.

He and his family will watch Donald J. Trump take the oath of office of president. The new president will make a speech. The Trumps then will accompany the Obamas toward a Marine Corps helicopter awaiting the newly former president and his family.

The TV special report tonight explored Obama’s successes and failures. CBS News correspondent Steve Kroft walked into the Oval Office with the president and then asked him if he was going to miss the place.

Obama’s response? No. He’s looking forward to sleeping in. He wants to spend time with his wife. He said he “won’t set the alarm” on his clock.

In short, Barack Obama said he wants out. He is ready to do other things.

Meanwhile, millions of us out here — even some of us in the Texas Panhandle — don’t want him to leave. We’re going to miss him far more than he’ll miss us.

I ought to be happy for the president. I should wish him well and Godspeed as he gets on with the rest of his life. I should merely thank him for his service to the country and then await with eager anticipation for the individual who will succeed him.

This time it’s not that simple. It’s not that clean and clear cut.

I don’t feel good about what lies ahead. Yeah, the new president is legit. He won the election — to the surprise of almost everyone and to the dismay of millions of us.

Indeed, I wish there was a way to keep the current president on the job. Aww, but that blasted Constitution just won’t allow it.

national news

Petulant POTUS-elect fires back at iconic lawmaker

I’ve already declared that I believe U.S. Rep. John Lewis’s declaration that Donald Trump is “not a legitimate president” went too far, that Trump is — in my view — legitimate.

So … what does Trump do? He responds to Lewis — perhaps the most legendary member of Congress — with a couple of tweets.

“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad!” Trump wrote in two tweets Saturday morning.

I want to repeat the ending: “All talk, talk, talk — no action or results. Sad!”

Good ever-lovin’ grief, man!

Given that the president-elect seems to know nothing about our history and the role that many brave men and women played in shaping it, I feel compelled to remind everyone that of all of Trump’s critics, John Lewis has more than earned his right to speak out.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-john-lewis-233630

He stood with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He marched with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. He faced down racists, was beaten to within an inch of his life — on more than one occasion — while speaking out for the cause of equality for all Americans. He participated in boycotts, protests, marches, demonstrations.

For the president-elect — a man with zero public service experience — to denigrate a critic as renowned and beloved as Rep. Lewis is to yet again demonstrate his utter and absolute ignorance of an iconic figure’s stature.

national news

Biden deserves the high praise

A question came to me after my post about Vice President Joe Biden receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction today from President Barack Obama.

It came from a reader of this blog who asks, simply: “What were Vice President Biden’s accomplishments?” The reader recalled when Biden in 1991 chaired the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that decided whether to recommend Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. He called Biden a “duplicitous blowhard.”

My sense, though, that Biden brought a kind of maturity to Barack Obama’s inner circle. He brought decades — three decades’ worth — of Senate experience; moreover, he brought several years, before his election to the Senate in 1972, of public service in Delaware.

Was there a signature achievement? Did the vice president author a policy or a strategy that the president followed? Was Joe Biden singularly responsible for a public policy decision?

I don’t believe he was successful in an outwardly visible way that the public would recognize.

I’ll accept the president’s accolades as a testament to the guidance and wise — and private — counsel that the vice president gave him during the tough times.

The gentleman who asked the question likely knows all of this. He did ask it, though, and I believe it’s worth sharing a brief response here to others who read these musings.

I suspect a lot of Americans perhaps are wondering the same thing about what Joe Biden accomplished during his eight years as vice president. We might not see it with our own eyes, but the man with whom he served in the White House surely did.

That’s good enough for me.

national news, political news

Obama pitches a roaring farewell

Presidents don’t usually say goodbye the way Barack Obama did tonight.

For the past 60 or so years, they usually have sat behind their big Oval Office desk and delivered remarks to virtually no one in the room, but to the TV audience way out there … somewhere.

The president tonight spoke in an atmosphere that to me made it sound more like a campaign speech than a farewell address.

OK. That’s as borderline negative as I’m going to get. I was proud to have voted twice for Barack Obama. Tonight he reaffirmed my pride in his call for Americans to rediscover all the things they have in common, that we’re all merely just citizens.

Yes, indeed, there were plenty of veiled comparisons to his successor. He implored us to steer away from divisions of Americans along racial, religious or ethnic lines. The presidential campaign we’ve just endured — in my view — was a divide-and-conquer endeavor. The president reminded us that our republic works best when we do not allow those divisions to consume us.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2017/01/10/full-text-of-president-obamas-farewell-speech/?mod=e2tw

There were a few omissions worth noting. I heard virtually no mention of Congress, which fought him virtually at every step along the way. There was no mention of some of the foreign-policy missteps that occurred during the past eight years.

However, I intend here to give the president all the credit he deserves for this fundamental triumph.

The nation, he said, is fundamentally better off — in any measurable way you can fathom — than it was when he took office.

We are safer. Our economy is stronger. We’ve expanded civil rights protection.

Our country remains — despite the fear-mongering rhetoric of some among us — the greatest nation on Earth.

Well done, Mr. President.

And, oh yes, I will miss you.

 

military news, national news, political news

This farewell won’t be your usual farewell

I miss Barack H. Obama already … and he’s still on the job as president of the United States.

Tonight, though, he’s going to bid us all farewell in a speech delivered in Chicago. I don’t usually remember specifics of presidential farewells, other than recalling how I felt in real time as they were delivering them.

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509052320/obamas-farewell-address-how-presidents-use-this-moment-of-reflection

I anticipate a mixed feeling tonight as I listen to President Obama recount his successes and, perhaps, his failures. As with all presidents, they have their high- and low-water marks.

My appreciation for this man hinges on the dignity he brought to the office. He stood proudly as the leader of the free world and as commander in chief. He seemed to wear both titles well, which is saying something for the latter, given that he didn’t serve in the military. He brought a certain bearing to that role.

I trust, too, he’ll remind us yet again about how difficult life had gotten in this country when he became president. He’ll tell us of the measures he pushed through Congress to stimulate a collapsing economy.

Yes, I’ll miss him.

It might be as well that my feelings for Barack Obama — and his family — are tinged in large measure by the feeling I harbor toward his successor. I won’t belabor that particular point here, except to say that the juxtaposition of those two emotions highlights and underscores my sense of sadness as I watch the current president say goodbye.

I won’t predict that we’ll hear a signature phrase that we’ll take away from this speech tonight, but neither will I be surprised to hear one. I guess the most memorable of those phrases in my lifetime came from President Eisenhower, a one-time general of the Army and hero of World War II, who warned of the “military-industrial complex” wielding too much power in the future.

Imagine such an admonition, coming from Ike, of all people!

It’ll be a watershed moment to be sure.