Leadership

I was driving to work the other day.  It was really early in the morning so instead of music, it was some weird program on the radio. On the program, the mayor of Cleveland, Frank Jackson, was speaking.    (I am getting to the point.). The mayor of Cleveland was saying something like this, "I have done a whole lot of great stuff during the past eight years and I want 4 more years as mayor to do lots more great stuff."  I am paraphrasing.

So, I started thinking about all of the great things that he has done.  And, here is what I heard in my head:

Cricket, cricket.

I couldn't think of one thing.  Then, I realized that this is a new trend.  (This is the point). People completely ignore their records and look right in the camera and say, "hey, I have done a whole lot of great stuff!  And, I'm going to keep on doing it!"

You may have guessed who else does this.  Obama.  He completely ignores his record, looks right in the camera and says everything is hunky-dory.

Foreign policy - he says that we are stronger than ever, we are weaker than ever as a direct result of his policies and are the laughing stock of the world,

Jobs - he says that his administration has added jobs.  Maybe part-time jobs and government jobs have been added.  But, his market-strangling policies are crippling business, destroying the economy and job creation,

The economy - this is such a joke, I am not sure where to start.  Um, 46 million people are on food stamps, the debt is through the roof, literally, we have to keep raising the roof, unemployment is over 7%, that is just shameful.  Tell you what, go get some gas and go to the grocery store, you will see how bad it is which leads me to:

Energy - if we started fracking the heck out of this place, getting our own oil and gas, and opened the Keystone pipeline, thousands of people would get jobs, the price of gas and then everything would drop dramatically.  Obama is working hard to destroy the coal industry, too, but that's another story.

Did you know that median American income is lower than it was in 1989.  Ah, 1989, what's a fantastic year that was.  We defeated communism at the same time, didn't we?

I digress...

If a Republican had a record like this, every single media outlet would go over each aspect with a fine toothed comb, and would run the person out of office.  Why aren't they doing that now?  Why is every single journalist and democratic politician falling in line behind all of this.  Do they all hate America and want it to fail?  I am waiting to hear of one, just one, democrat who will stand up and say, "No more! This man is destroying the country and I won't be a party to it!"

Is this leadership?  No, it isn't.  Leadership is about leading - taking responsibility for your actions, acknowledging mistakes and fixing them.  Leadership is not about pretending that everything is great and collecting a paycheck from the taxpayers.

I really expect more from leaders and I hope that you do, too.