IF OBAMA WERE TO ACT LIKE A CEO...

I think it safe to say that, in one sense or another, every CEO can be said to be a politician. However, the same rarely holds true in trying to describe most politicians as being CEOs. And nothing proves that point better than the growing numbers of scandals that have now seemed to plague Barry "Almighty". And I think it fair to say that they are as much management failures as they are political, legal and ethical failures. There is a price to be paid for having no market-facing executive experience in his inner circle. Barry’s first cabinet was nearly completely devoid of any private sector management experience but yet seemed to be awash in 'experience' the source of which was leftist academia. Hence a big reason for where we find ourselves today economically, socially and internationally.

For those who pay attention to such things and who are nowhere near foolish enough to believe that all of those involved in business are evil and greedy, most of our better presidents have had at least some level of business and/or military leadership experience. And this has very often proven to be an invaluable asset and one of tremendous value when running the world’s largest organization. Those who haven’t, such as 'Slick Willie' Clinton who was himself tested by failure as a politician, knew that private sector executives have a different view of what successful management is and therefore had the wisdom to keep a few close at hand. However, being the caliber of politician that he is, such is not the case with Barry "Almighty," and it shows.

If he, or she, has any hope of being a success, every CEO must be capable of dealing with a crisis, and more often that not several occurring at the same time. Crises that stem from irate customers to those created by any number of suppliers, regulators, and even investors. CEOs must be able to deal with faceless markets that can’t be manipulated and can be prove to be considerably volatile due to any number of outside influences. And on the political side of being a CEO it's pretty simple as it essentially boils down to just one thing: Get a big decision wrong you lose your job, tomorrow! Manage a crisis well and your "decision wisdom" grows and so does your market value. It's all pretty cut and dried really, just ask the recently fired CEO of JC Penney.

Successful executives understand their organizations inside and out, they possess a keen sense of the talent level, culture, and the values that drive their companies. They are always on a quest to try to improve all three. No chief executive trying to improve the performance of their company would be foolish, or reckless, enough to simply "trust" the firm’s bureaucracy. Private sector presidents know "Bureaucracy eats strategy for lunch." Barry seems to value bureaucracy to the point where he’s made it bigger, much bigger, and paid it better even when taxpayers have lost jobs, income and substantial household wealth. But, as he might now be discovering, just as in private sector companies, an unmanaged bureaucracy eventually will bite its boss.

To put it quite simply, Barry has brought much of his trouble on himself. Had he sought counsel from those CEOs who weren’t busy cozying up as members of his advisory panels, most of whose companies enjoy larger federal subsidies from his administration, his political life might be a lot better. For starters, even those of like me who can't stand this guy realize that none of these crises 'had' to happen! CEOs pay attention to history. They know the "why" of the steel industry reinventing itself in micro-mills, the Tylenol crisis story and what went wrong inside Enron. They put themselves into such stories to understand how success and failure happened and to test what they would do. My point here is that crises are going to happen, but you prepare as best you can so you can then prevent, or limit the damage they cause, as many as you can.

When there was trouble afoot in Benghazi on 9-11 that should have prompted caution. A CEO would have said to his NSC chief: "No incidents on the anniversary." The activity of lower level IRS agents was apparently known by more than a few people close to Barry. An executive office staff that saw their boss as being vulnerable, as every CEO is, would have made sure that he was aware and prompted an early and public intervention. Likewise the AP story; instead of going outside, a route any CEO would instinctively know held danger, focus inside. Before tramping on constitutional rights, he should work the White House information chain backwards, who knew leaked facts? Federal employees with secret clearance know that lie detector testing comes with the job.

It is said that Barry’s political talent is without equal. What I know for sure is that his ability to lie is certainly unmatched, even by the Clintons. Barry's path to being a CEO is one of learning by doing. First, he would need to get back into grace of his bosses, the voters, and not just the ones who voted 'for' him! He should apologize loudly and often, taking full responsibility and actions that matter. The CEO’s script: "I can’t believe federal servants didn’t protect diplomats, spied on the press, and singled out conservative groups using the tax code. It seems the apparatus of Washington forgets who has the ultimate authority – not aides, deputies, and not bureau chiefs. It’s mine; I’m President." Like that's going to happen! That's just not how Barry operates.

Then he should say, "I mean to run government in a way that inspires trust. I am firing the Attorney General, the head of the NSC, the Chief of the Joint Staff, and my White House counsel. I don’t know what the Attorney General did. It really doesn’t matter. Justice so abused the 1^st Amendment I have no choice. NSC and Defense misjudged the potential in Benghazi badly and failed to save American personnel in ongoing danger — I can’t tolerate such bad management. My White House counsel knew of the IRS investigations for weeks without telling me." He should appoint some former judge of the Tax Court to clean up the IRS. Then he should preempt the Congress by saying that he wants them to reconsider Obamacare, taking away any role for the IRS. But again, ain't gonna happen.

And if he were to do all that, Barry would essentially kill two birds with one stone, he'd have his mojo back almost instantly and the Republicans would be completely flummoxed. He could then claim that he was focusing on getting the economy growing again. Because after 4 plus years of stimulus, taxes, expensive initiatives, and regulation we still have zero real job growth. If he proposes material revisions to Obamacare the economy will jump on the news. Endorsing Keystone also makes the economy leap. And, if like JFK he were to reject his leftist economists’ advice, and cuts taxes and spending, he’d leave office with GDP at 6+ percent! The nation’s affection for "BJ" Clinton will look like puppy love. What private sector CEOs know and do might be of enormous help to both Barry and the nation just now.

But after having said all of this and having made all of the above comparisons, I think it pretty fair to say that not much of it will occur. Most of us are able to recognize the fact that Barry is the quintessential anti-CEO. He votes present, takes no responsibility for anything and blames all of his problems on either his subordinates or his opposition. He has demonstrated, on any number of occasions, that he's not the least bit hesitant about throwing those under the bus who can be used to deflect blame. And at the same time he goes to great lengths to claim sole responsibility for those things perceived as being good. That's not leadership in any sense of the word. But then Barry is not a leader, what he is, is a devoted follower who got himself elected. A longstanding disciple of socialism. And he is determined to move this country in that direction by any means.