Reply #8: Two of the biggest problems of this presidency are here. [View All]

[Jakes Progress]

First is the very short-sighted policy of seeking republican support that was never going to come: "he embraced expanded offshore drilling, in part to win Republican support for broader legislation to curb climate change"

This may have been what presidents did forty years ago, but any student of American politics since reagan knows this is futile. Even if the administration wouldn't learn from the past, they should have learned from experience. Over and over, the white house has given in to, sucked up to, and bent over for right wing votes. How many republican votes did he get on HCR? Nothing is as stupid as doing the same thing again and again with the expectation of a different outcome.

Second is his reliance on "experts" that filter and limit their advice to their own interests. Whether it is finance, the economy, education, or energy, the president goes to a select few to boil down the information and give him the information. He is not very good as selecting these "experts". His coterie of advisors is small and uninformed. They are the ones who wield the power with this presidency, and they are not serving him well. He can't use that for an excuse because he is the one who is responsible. Over and over he relies on limited and biased information to make bad decisions and then falls back on political advisors and his oratory to try to get out of the mess.

And just like the white house hope for republican support, it looks like he would begin to question his reliance on those who should be serving him. The president is reputed to be big on smarts, but he doesn't seem to be good a learning.