Obama’s Executive Experience

Stephen Green agrees with the OTB gang that hectoring President Obama (or any other president, for that matter) for playing golf is silly.   But he gets in a nice dig:

So let him enjoy some golf. It might be the only real executive experience Obama has.

Ha!

Presumably, though, this joke has a limited shelf life?

It’s true that Obama took office with less executive experience than any recent president.  All the presidents in my lifetime (that is, starting with Lyndon Johnson) had been either Vice President or a state governor.

But Obama is now President of the United States and has been for 17 months as of noon today.  At some point, that starts to add up to real executive experience.   Certainly, come the 2012 campaign, he’ll have more relevant experience than any conceivable candidate the Republicans can offer:  almost four years in the very office being contested!

FILED UNDER: Open Forum, , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. sam says:

    Yeah, but James, compared to the combined resumes of Tony Hayward and the Swedish Chef now running the outfit, the O-man is still a tyro when it comes to execin’. Those boys are the real deal.

  2. Patrick T McGuire says:

    Does that then mean that he will finally take responsibility and stop blaming Bush for everything that goes wrong?

  3. grampagravy says:

    Obama could serve both terms and very possibly not be able to overcome all the damage Bush managed to do in eight years. Especially given that the party of no thinks it’s okay to do everything in their power to bring government to a standstill until they can find a way to get control again. The Gulf oil disaster provides the perfect analogy here. The oil will spew out for months–the clean up will take years if not decades.

  4. Michael says:

    Hey Jimmy pretty weak! What is this nonsense and the petty ttack on Anne Coulter?
    Exactly whose side are you on…Obama’s or America. You redefine the word wussy.

  5. Dave says:

    As I understand it, Obama didn’t really play much golf until he became president. So this little dig doesn’t really make much sense as it is.

  6. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III says:

    Sam, those two BP execs are taking the heat for what happened under their watch. Is Obama? Until the Democrats took the congress in 06, the Dow was at 14 and unemployment at 5 yet when things went south as they always do when Democrats hold sway Bush took the heat. Obama has yet to accept any responsiblity for much of what he has caused. Obama will have more of a type of executive experience at the end of this term (sorry we have to wait so long) the problem being the kind of experience. Do we want more of the same? More debt, more government intrusion into our lives? Higher taxes and a reduced standard of living?

    Sam, if you like Obama, you must just love Stalin and Chavez. Sam how many Presidents have the college transcripts locked up? Why?

  7. Maggie Mama says:

    Obama has been faced with executive decisions. Does that qualify as “executive decisions” … TECHNICALLY, I guess it does.

    But if we are looking for timely, quality results, which I believe are the hallmarks of a good executive, can we say that Obama had demonstrated a propensity for that? NO.

    “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

    OBAMA FAILS. Or whoever is making decisions for him, FAILS.