Leadership from Obama is lacking

Peter McMurran, Henderson

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013 | 2:01 a.m.

It is part Greek tragedy, part carnival sideshow that has presented itself over time in the Obama administration. Here is a genuinely brilliant president with lofty goals to move America forward but cannot get out of his own way to make a “real time” connection to the populace that elected him.

As a former Marine officer, business manager and business owner, I have seen and experienced effective leadership at multiple levels. I respect the office of our leaders but cannot accept the shirking of presidential leadership. The current debacle in national politics has further alienated Americans while leading to record disgust with most everyone and anything in Washington, D.C.

At what point does the buffoonery cease?

Many Americans are nauseated by the recent shutdown and now the Obamacare rollout debacle. The shocking lack of cooperation and expertise exhibited by our national leaders and the free-for-all that has followed in the national media is repugnant.

Are we not better than this?

Mr. President, it starts with you. You seem to come down to earth every once in a while to make eloquent speeches but disappear for days on end.

You have two fatal flaws: You do not know how to get dirty, and you prefer professorial discussions rather than pragmatic compromise. You appear to live in a bubble surrounded by sycophants (Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, Durbin, et al.) who are unwilling to tell you the gritty truth, or if and when they do, you choose not to act. There are positives in your presidency, but in the final analysis you have failed to lead the American populace as it appeared you very much would on a cold, windy night in Grant Park so long ago.