by Dan Riehl
Riehl World View
1/10/2010
I think even a quick comparison of Obama to nearly any previous American President points to the fundamental reason Obama is stumbling badly in office and seeing his popularity collapse.
Just look at the most recent line of presidents. From Reagan, to both Bushes, Carter, who failed for different reasons, and a mostly successful Bill Clinton, these were individuals exposed to broad elements of America as a whole as they came up. That isn’t the case for Obama, an individual who has admitted to being bored by suburbs and with no real claim to having experienced rural America very much.
From private sector endeavors, to state governorships, a baseball team owner, along with previous experience within the academy and hallways of power, most of our Presidents had either experienced, or dealt significantly and directly with many of the complex elements that comprise American society beforehand. Obama actually led a mostly insulated life.
Staying in academia after college, then going on to representing one basically small state district within urban America, there is no indication that Obama ever broadened himself beyond books, or sermons at Reverend Wright’s Chicago church. Sure, he may have danced across the different wires that represent a broader American experience. But he never did spend a significant amount of time walking on those wires, or interacting with the parts of America strung with them. Now he finds himself ensconced in the WH, perhaps the most insulated of all places in American life one could ever be…
…In a sense, he is a man trying to govern a nation he doesn’t genuinely know, stuck trying to communicate with…
The complete article is at Riehl World View.
