All The President's Women & Men

Among the key responsibilities of a president is choosing highly capable officials to steer the nation’s course wisely.  President Obama has failed in this duty.  Romney declared during the debate that Obama only picks losers regarding green energy boondoggles; the same pattern holds true when it comes to picking people to run the nation.  His picks span the spectrum from the incompetent to the dismal.

Recently, I was struck by the tone and gist of a column by New York Times liberal columnist (but I repeat myself) Roger Cohen.  His piece, “Obama’s Team of Idolizers,” made mincemeat of Barack Obama’s campaign claim that he would assemble a Cabinet that would resemble the stellar cast of characters that became Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals.”  Four years later, Cohen was so critical of their performance that he dismissed them as having been chosen for their willingness to serve as a “coterie of idolizers.”

Given the debacle or Libya, this excerpt is particularly relevant and timely:

The Obama inner circle remains a group of tough political tacticians: David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Valerie Jarrett. The White House national security team does not boast a single name of strategic stature. Anyone outside Washington would be hard pressed to name one.

On Egypt, he toyed with preserving Mubarak ad interim before the tide became irreversible. On Syria, he has in essence dithered. On Afghanistan, domestic politics dictated the agenda, at a cost in American lives.