What Obama Should Learn From The Great Ones

Albert Einstein said “ Insanity is doing something over repeatedly and expecting different results. “ Tea Party insanity is running amok in Washington.

Republicans realize they can't win fair elections anymore so they are trying to scrap the whole democratic process. However their temper tantrums are starting to spill over to the world economy and it’s time for the president to stop playing with these people and instill fear.  

As someone that considers himself more conservative than liberal I encourage him to go rogue.  This is not the Republican Party of my childhood. As a resident in New Jersey, we had moderate Northeast Republicans like Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Keane. They believed in free markets but made an attempt to understand working people. They also had respect for the institution of government and those that disagreed with their point of view.

My point of contention with the President is that a man concerned with his legacy hasn't learned how the great Presidents handled the opposition of their day. He doesn't have the instincts of a Clinton or Reagan, warriors that loved battle.

One has to ask how would Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton handle lightweights like Ted Cruz and the Tea Party? Truth is his legacy is shaping up to be like Jimmy Carter’s a bright man in over his head.  As compared to the great Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who were presidents that put money in peoples pocket. Obama comes from the same school of Adlai Stevenson, Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale professorial types that would rather lecture than get into the rougher world of combat. Obama is a cold war liberal whose economic philosophy is straight from Brussels.

History has shown Great presidents didn't sit around and negotiate with contentious groups. They seized power and let the scholars debate the fine points later.  While the media acts as if runaway Congress  and Tea Party revolts are unprecedented,opposition parties have been part of American History. The question shouldn't be whether the opposition is contentious but how did the Presidents respond to their opponents.

When the State of South Carolina threatened to secede over a tariff increase Andrew Jackson did not ask for a Grand Bargain he threatened to hang his former Vice President John C Calhoun , Abraham Lincoln defied the Supreme Court and suspended habeas corpus and Roosevelt tried to stack the Supreme Court.  

Early on Ronald Reagan put the liberals on notice , they gave the man no respect and called him the amiable dunce.  The tables were turned In 1981 when 11, 000  Air Traffic Controllers went on strike during the peak of summer travel season.  This resulted in an estimated 7,000 flights being canceled. The president then took control of the situation and declared the strike illegal.  He threatened to fire any controller who failed to return to work within 48 hours. Soon confusion set among the strikers and within a few days were replaced by military personnel and non striking workers. Eventually 80 percent of flights were operating and  Air travel resumed. Reagan then  blacklisted the  strikers and  In October 1981, Patco was decertified.

That is how you handle the opposition

John F Kennedy had the same cautious approach to power as our current president. However this changed when the Ted Cruz of his day George Wallace defied his authority in integrating the Alabama school system. The defiant Governor emphatically vowed to stand in the doorway of any Alabama schoolhouse that was ordered by the federal courts to admit black students.

As with President  Obama, Kennedy tried negotiating with rigid ideologues and sent  his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, to Alabama.  However he realized he was dealing with a madman.  The president tried once more by  appealing  to Alabama businessmen and influential politicians to try to reason with  Wallace.  On June 5, 1963 the U.S. district court ordered the state of Alabama  to allow the students to register,  Wallace refused, hoping this would set up a states' rights crisis and paint the president as a tyrant.  

Still  reluctant to use power John F Kennedy decided to use Robert Kennedy to federalize the Alabama National Guard and arrest Wallace if he had too.

On the morning of June 11, this came to a boil  when the students started registering , Wallace stood in front of the University of Alabama doorway flanked by Alabama state troopers  Kennedy, issued a  Presidential Proclamation that ordered the governor to comply. He then  authorized  the Secretary of Defense to call up the Alabama National Guard.

That afternoon, federal troops came to the campus and asked Wallace to step aside. Wallace, defeated finally relented eventually . The University of Alabama campus in Huntsville became integrated without interference.

Truth is one has to ask the question if government is broken would the president be justified to seize power. The debt ceiling is crucial.  the world could collapse because a minority interest wants to undermine not only democracy but the economy.

One should ask is the president really exploring all possibilities.