The Big Lie That Obama Can't Lead Is Crumbling

[Purveyor]

By Walter Rodgers / May 27, 2011

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,” instructed the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, “people will eventually come to believe it.”

For 2-1/2 years, the big lie repeated about President Obama has been that he’s not a real leader. Responsible critics called him diffident, spineless, and rudderless. Irresponsible critics called him a socialist, a Muslim, and not an American. Now, even after his brilliant planning and direction of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, detractors are complaining that he didn’t have the guts to release photos of Mr. bin Laden’s corpse.

Outdated notions of leadership

Some of this maligning simply reflects the same savage partisan attacks leveled against every president (except Ronald Reagan) since Watergate. Some of it reflects darker bigotry toward Mr. Obama. But it also shows our outdated and wrongheaded notions of leadership.

American culture mistakenly prizes bravado and arrogance as sure signs of leadership. Public showmanship – like donning a flight suit in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner – is easy. Quiet, cool, competence that gets results – like pulling together an international coalition to protect civilians in Libya in record time – is hard.

MORE...

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Walter-Rodgers/2011/0527/The-big-lie-that-Obama-can-t-lead-is-crumbling

[Ineeda]

1. Good article. K and highly R n/t

[nenagh]

2. Thank you..

that was a great read..

[Indykatie]

3. Thanks for Posting K&R

[AtomicKitten]

4. Good read. k&r

Something a PUMA here at DU who has "We have a president. We don't have a leader." in their sig line should read.

[JTFrog]

5. K&R

[saras]

6. Godwin's law - sorry

Labeling a mainstream difference of opinion regarding Obama with the Hitler brush - sorry, you lose by default

Like a general who can only retreat, Obama can lead us towards corporate domination just fine. It's leading people in the opposite direction he has a hard time with.

But the only critique of Obama's leadership in the article is that of the radical right, which is attributed to racism and right-wing extremism. And the article praises Obama's reaffirmation of America's outlawry and exceptionalism regarding Bin Laden as an unmitigated good.

unrec for straight-up right-wing sentiments

[progressoid]

7. +1

[Kolesar]

8. ^ What the f*** was that?...eom

[Wait Wut]

9. +1

[JTFrog]

11. ^^ +1

[vaberella]

14. I'm trying to figure it out myself...~sigh~ n/t

[Ikonoklast]

19. Derp.

With some Hurrr thrown in for good measure.

[Viking 1]

10. K&R to THAT!

Heh-heh...

[bvar22]

12. Oh, he CAN lead,

I just don't like WHERE he is leading us.
I'm an old mainstream FDR/LBJ Democrat,
NOT a "Centrist".
I don't give Republicans a seat at the Democratic Party Table.

"If you give them a seat at the table,
they will eat all the food."---John Edwards,


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will stand up for working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone


"By their works you will know them."

[lillypaddle]

13. K&R nt

[joentokyo]

15. I think your are arguing against a proposition that has not been stated. Dissatisfaction

with Obama is not that he cannot lead. It is the fact that he is not going doing what he promised to do.

[DCBob]

16. This article is spot on.

Even some on the left dont get it.

[Arkana]

17. It took more guts NOT to give in to Americans' bloodlust

and release those photos.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. There's no words strong enough to describe just how big this lie has been

You don't have to be a bombastic, "cowboyish" person to get results. Obama's definitely a cooler-headed, more deliberative leader. Just imagine what things might've been like if somebody like him had been POTUS during 9/11 (assuming it happened at all under somebody else).