The items found on this blog were written during the past few years and strictly reflect my own opinions. Because these articles deal with difficult issues they are bound to be controversial. They reflect my personal analysis based on the limited information that I have. I am certainly no expert and fully respect different opinions. Difficult issues would not be difficult if there were clear-cut answers. Although you will see in reading some of my material, I don't like being pigeonholed with a label, I will admit to being politically independent with a tendency to be more conservative fiscally and slightly more liberal with regard to social issues. Having lived through the 1940's, I have a great appreciation for the sacrifices made by our armed forces and, in fact, all Americans during World War II. The greatness of this country shone bright as we rehabilitated and rebuilt our enemies after winning that war. I am very patriotic and proud of our country. While we are far from perfect, we're not as far from that ideal as most other countries in the world.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Barack Obama's Report Card

Barack Obama’s Report Card

Mr. Obama is known for grading others with a report card format.  Here’s my report card for his performance over the last four years.


Report Card – September 2012


Student’s Name:  Barack Obama


Subject:                                                                                                                   Grade

            Lowering unemployment:
             Results             2008 – 7.8%                     2012 – 8.3%                      F

            Improving Standard of Living (mean household income)
Results             2008 - $54,000                2012 - $50,000                    F

            Reducing energy costs (gasoline)
Results             2008 - $1.85/gal             2012 - $3.75/gal                  F
           

            Improve U.S. Financial Position (National Debt)
                        Results             2008 - $10 trillion            2012 - $16 trillion               F-



I would also have to give Mr. Obama an F for leadership.  He has totally failed at the leadership of bringing congress together to solve the important issues of the day.  Congress, as well as all aspects of politics, is more polarized now than ever before.

When asked what grade he would give himself, he replied – Incomplete


Mr., Obama does, however, deserve some As and Bs if we can believe his self-assessments. His golf game, his basketball ability, his pool shooting, his card playing, his singing, his reading ability and his cooking, especially Chili, have all excelled.
(The Competitor in Chief, Jodi Kantor, The New York Times, 9/2/2012)


Is a report card featuring F grades in all key subjects or even as he grades himself, incomplete, good enough to deserve a second term?  Maybe being a camp counselor is a better match for his talents.  Working with 8 – 10 year olds could also give him a great opportunity to hone his leadership skills.

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4 comments:

  1. Jim FlemingSeptember 5, 2012 at 7:34 AM

    What do you think about this spending report?

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/

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    Replies
    1. J. Stuart Fleming, Ph.D.September 5, 2012 at 1:24 PM

      It's interesting to me how often two people can look at the same data and come to totally opposite conclusions. Politicians are experts at this. Both parties manipulate numbers and use them to create the impressions they believe will help them get what they want. One trick that many use to prove their point is to use some derivative of the raw data such as percentages to prove a point. This is also commonly done in the health/medical field. If you hear that a particular behavior leads to a 50% reduction in death due to disease "X", you tend to be impressed. However, when you learn that the baseline death rate is only 2 per 1000, reducing it to 1 per 1000 is far less impressive and, in fact, may be just statistical noise.

      So it is with politicians. They dazzle you with numbers to support their position, i.e., what many term "smoke and mirrors". They are as expert at slight of hand as are the magicians.

      When I look at the raw data, I see that the National Debt increased $4.75 trillion during George Bush's 8 years (averaging about $594 billion/yr). While this indicates poor financial management, Obama has stepped hard on the accelerator, running up the National Debt another $3.69 trillion in four years (averaging $922 billion/yr).

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    2. Jim FlemingSeptember 7, 2012 at 5:47 AM

      You are so right about numbers being misrepresented. Here is an intersting website I found showing deficit/debt numbers of the past century: http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html

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    3. J. Stuart Fleming, Ph.D.September 7, 2012 at 11:31 AM

      Yes and the whole thing is complicated by wars, need to support troops, national disasters and especially the makeup of congress. It's congress where spending programs are initiated. The president just gives his approval. My whole point is that I see little hope of stopping runaway debt unless we have a strong leader who will be willing and able to work with all of congress and commit to a balanced budget. I think this would require both reform of most all entitlement programs as well as significant tax reform. In that sense, I would love to see a president who focuses on bringing a rational decision making process to government rather than delivering favors to his/her base.

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