Criticizing Bush and Obama

Here is a very well put criticism by Barry Ritholtz pointing out how both Bush and Obama have failed the American people by not rising to a historic occasion with a grand vision and an agenda that would reorganize the country to face the problem:

One of my regular criticisms of George W. Bush as President was, when presented with an opportunity to achieve greatness, he repeatedly failed to rise to the occasion. Indeed, his presidency can be viewed as a long series of missed opportunities:

“Once in a generation, the stars align for a political leader. There is this perfect moment – too often based on some enormous danger of long-lasting consequences for generations to come . . . the perfect combination of leadership and threat, of challenge and response meet. The leader – imperfect, fallible, yet ready to rise to the occasion – grabs the brass ring.”

That was what I wrote following 9/11. There was a moment to transcend politics. Restructure global alliances, refocus military spending away from its cold war footing, force some sort of Israeli/Palestine deal, wrestle structural US deficits to the ground. Rather than dare the nation to rise to the challenge, to make personal sacrifices for the greater good, to step up to greatness, the country was told to . . . go shopping.

Barack H. Obama seems to be following W’s footsteps. He has failed — twice — to is rise to an occasion of great import. In the words of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, he has “wasted a good crisis” — for the second time. The financial collapse was a grand opportunity to undo three decades of misguided decision-making and radical deregulation. He chose to focus on . . . Health Care.

Now, we have another crisis — the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster. And yet again, we see another missed opportunity. The Oval Office speech last week was just that — a speech, filled with platitudes and mere words. Where was the challenge, the sense of national need, the urgency? It was the same tired energy speech that, as The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has pointed out, every single president since Nixon has given.

For the greatest orator of his generation, our president appears to be lacking in imagination.

History will judge both of these presidents severely. Bush will be among the bottom dozen, a complete incompetent, while Obama will be in the bottom third as a promising politician who simply failed to rise to the challenge, a politician with a golden tongue but no vision and insufficient leadership qualities.

Go read Ritholtz's full post. He lays out his vision as a ten point program.

1. Energy R&D


2. Gas Taxes


3. Mass Transit


4. CAFE Standards


5. Alternative Energy for Homes


6. Upgrade the Grid


7. Campaign Finance Reform


8. Lobbying Rules


9. Corporate Donations


10. Transparent Disclosure

This is solid stuff. This is what Americans needed to hear. But Obama hasn't made this speech. That's a tragedy.