Obama talks leadership on 60 Minutes

Last night, the President went on “60 Minutes” and discussed leadership, a subject with which he is wholly unfamiliar. The interviewer, Steve Kroft, confronts the President on the loss of US leadership in the Syrian civil war and how Putin seems to have taken the lead from us;

Steve Kroft: He’s challenging your leadership, Mr. President. He’s challenging your leadership–

President Barack Obama: Well Steve, I got to tell you, if you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then we’ve got a different definition of leadership. My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change, an international accord that potentially we’ll get in Paris. My definition of leadership is mobilizing the entire world community to make sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon. And with respect to the Middle East, we’ve got a 60-country coalition that isn’t suddenly lining up around Russia’s strategy. To the contrary, they are arguing that, in fact, that strategy will not work.

It’s as if there’s no reflection when President Obama looks in the mirror. Kroft tells the President that the perception in the Middle East that the US is acting out of weakness in Syria and, of course, the President blames the Republicans for that perception;

Steve Kroft: Do you think the world’s a safer place?

President Barack Obama: America is a safer place. I think that there are places, obviously, like Syria that are not safer than when I came into office. But, in terms of us protecting ourselves against terrorism, in terms of us making sure that we are strengthening our alliances, in terms of our reputation around the world, absolutely we’re stronger.

In what regard are we stronger? Our policy in Syria has failed so badly that we’re no longer training Syrian rebels, we’ve had to restrict our air strikes so they don’t interfere with the Russian aircraft (who are doing a better job of beating ISIS into the ground, anyway).
Tell Jason Rezaian how he’s safer now.

The president ends his interview;

Steve Kroft: Do you think if you ran again, could run again, and did run again, you would be elected?

President Barack Obama: Yes.

Steve Kroft: You do.

President Barack Obama: I do.

I agree with that, Americans are generally more enamored with the visage than the leadership he provides, because if Americans voted for leaders, this guy wouldn’t even be able to get a tour of the White House let alone live in it.

Steve Kroft gets kudos for actually conducting an interview and getting the answers that Americans need, but it won’t have any impact on the discussion over Syria, because this president and his advisers are tone deaf to criticism. The President’s description of Putin, which could actually be a description of Obama’s own legacy, proves that he recognize his own failings.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden