Obama's Lack of Focus

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/06/obama-lack-of-focus

President Obama has a $1.5 trillion deficit on a $3.7 trillion federal budget and faces an August 2 deadline for Congress to raise the $14 trillion debt ceiling. Unemployment is around 9%, and U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter ran at an anemic annualized real rate of 1.8%.

All of these facts have been known for some time. So what has Mr. Obama been doing lately?

He got in a big fight with the prime minister of Israel.

He had dinner two nights in a row with Queen Elizabeth II.

He encouraged fathers to turn off their children's video games and make them read books instead.

He visited Puerto Rico.

He spoke at three Democratic National Committee fundraisers in Miami and two in Washington D.C.

And he gave a big, nationally televised speech about Afghanistan and Iraq: "Let us responsibly end these wars."

Maybe Mr. Obama has got some plan he has yet to share, or maybe if he were more focused on the economy or the budget he'd just be making things worse. But from this vantage point, it looks like there's a disconnect between the nation's priorities and the president's activities.

by Ira Stoll  |  Jun 22, 2011 at 9:28 pm Related Topics:  President Obama receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list