A MILITARY LESSON IN LEADERSHIP FOR THE POTUS

After fifteen years of service in the United States Marine Corps, I have often stated to others that I believe everyone could benefit from a little time in the military. I do not say this to offer support for a mandatory enlistment program. I am actually against such a program. I say this because there are many positive lessons that can be learned in a short amount of time in the military. These lessons encompass just about everything a person needs in life in order to be successful in any endeavor. Discipline, bearing, decision making skills, I can go on all day but I do not mean for this to sound like a recruiting commercial. In my opinion the two most important traits that are acquired in military service are leadership and integrity.

It is painfully obvious after President Obama's first 100 days in office that he has never served in the military, not that this is his fault. I am sure he would be the first to say that he is not to blame for his absence of service in the military, and this is indirectly the point I want to concentrate on. I am not pompous, but feel more than qualified to offer this lesson to our Commander in Chief, should he be inclined to listen to anyone for a change.

I have learned over time that the higher rank you achieve in the military, the more missions and tasks you become responsible for. Once you have climbed the ladder high enough, you can no longer attempt to accomplish tasks on your own, but must delegate them to the troops you are in charge of. This is identified as, "Delegation of Authority." This is where leadership becomes more complicated, as you can no longer merely count on yourself to get things accomplished, but must train, instruct, and trust that your junior troops are going to accomplish the mission on your behalf. If you are a good leader you will be pleased with the results most of the time, but once in a while your superiors will not be pleased with the results of what they assigned to YOU for completion. I capitalized the "YOU" because you, as the leader, are responsible for the results. When things go bad you can not shift the blame on your workers. After all you were responsible for them. In the same regard, your superiors (if they are worth a cup of coffee) don't march you into their superiors office to explain why the mission failed, they take their own responsibility for it.

Apparently President Obama hasn't grasped this idea as of yet. He likes to blame everyone else when he or his troops (cabinet) make mistakes. Most recently it was the "Scare Force One" fiasco, where he claimed to know nothing about it but promised to look into it and the Biden "Swine Flu Fear Mongering" where he sent his minions out to explain what Joe, "meant to say." Not long ago it was the Saudi King incident where he clearly bowed to the leader, but rather than admit error, insulted everyone's intelligence by claiming it was not a bow. I've also not seen any "oops" or "my bad" from the DVD gift fiasco, knowledge of the AIG bonuses in the bailout package, attempting to force war veterans to pay for their own medical care...I could go on all day but I think you get the point. He seems to not take responsibility for any mistakes he or his cabinet makes. This is not a positive trait for the most powerful leadership position in the world.

Allow me to use a non-military analogy to simplify this. I live in military housing (I know I said non-military, bear with me). Military housing is like a subdivision. There are rules like many subdivisions have stating acceptable levels of cleanliness, what may be displayed, etc. I, being a father of three children; aged 12, 14, and 17, have been known to delegate some of my yardwork to them. If I delegate authority to them to mow the lawn, and they do a poor job, or don't complete it at all, I may receive a citation from the housing office for failing to maintain the grounds on my property. If this happens, what do you think my recourse is to go before the housing board and argue to them that it isn't my fault, as I assigned it to my kids and they didn't do it? Or, better yet, what if I claim that my children "meant to" do it properly? Exactly!!! After being laughed at for such a silly defense, I would probably be informed that it was my responsiblity to see that the job was done, and that I cannot blame my children. You see, leaders generally learn the rule early on that you can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility.

This, Mr. President, is a simple lesson that you should learn if you wish to be taken seriously as "LEADER of the free world."

THIS LITTLE PIGGY CRIED FOUL!!

Okay, it's Friday...you know, the day everyone is in a good mood because the weekend has arrived. What?? You say you cannot be excited this weekend because of the looming swine flu pandemic that is going to destroy the world?? After all, even our Vice President has stated that he would not ride in any closed in airplane, subway, or any other mass transit device for that matter, and would only seek out open fields to commune and sneeze in. So we should hide in our homes, gripped in fear of the mighty H1N1 which will probably bring about the end of the world, right? I have become ever-increasingly suspect of all the "chicken littles" spreading fear, chief of those the liberal media who has a history of fear-mongering for political gain. I decided to check out a few statistics, in the hope that I might be able to assist in putting people at ease to enjoy the weekend, piggy-flu free.

Did you know that the Center For Disease Control estimates that 36,000 people in the United States die each year from the flu? Now I know you're saying, Ron, that doesn't make us feel any better about our livelihood, but allow me to pontificate a little further please. The number of confirmed deaths from the "swine flu" so far are 7!!! That's right, the media has been reporting this coming armageddon-like pandemic for a couple of weeks now and the death toll is at 7!! I also add the important fact that all deaths have been in Mexico, minus one who was from Mexico, and later transported to Texas. So this begs the question...why is the media over hyping this? Why is the President and Vice President playing this up so much? I don't claim to know for sure, and this may be a stretch of a theory, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with the coming government socialized healthcare plan that Obama will be lobbying for soon. I could be wrong but I know one of the liberals (statists) favorite tactics to enact their flawed programs is through scaring Americans. Even Rahm Emmanuel, President Obama's mafia enforcer has been quoted as saying,

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

Hmmmm, in my line of work we call that a CLUE. The entertaining thought in this lies with the 7 deaths that have been confirmed, not that they, in themselves are entertaining. What I am saying is all seven deaths were Mexicans, which has a government run healthcare program, probably quite similar to the one Barry is going to lobby for in our land. Certainly I'm not the only one shaking my head about that concept.

AHHHH, ANOTHER CUP OF JOE

Well, folks...our President and Vice President are at it again. They have once again confirmed their "odd couple" status with their lack of communication regarding a stance on the swine flu pandemic. In case you missed it, just the other day President Obama spoke to Americans about the swine flu outbreak...



As is normally the case when the Obama administration becomes brave enough to let Joe out of his cage to talk with the media, he immediately inserts his foot in his mouth...



Wow, sounds like Joe is ready to become our first "bubble boy" Vice President. In theaters this summer, starring our own Vice President, it's "What About Bob 2, Joe the Germaphobe"

Babysteps to the bathroom...babysteps to the disinfectant soap...babysteps to the oxygen bubble.

Not to belittle the "LEVEL 5 PANDEMIC" but the death toll is 7!!

Besides, I have the supreme confidence in our Commander in Chief to obliterate this swine flu. If anyone is an expert on pork, it's Barack Obama!!