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Indulge me a short rant. I just had a call from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee asking for money to elect Democrats to the Senate next year.The answer was, "No." Not a dime. Not a farthing. Not a sou.
The reason: they have not earned it. Senate Democrats can't get anything done when they have a filibuster-proof majority; what good will reelecting them do? What good will electing more of them do?
A long time ago I had an employee who coveted his boss's job. He was sure that when the job opened up, I would give it to him. He was wrong. When he stormed into my office to ask why he didn't get the job, the answer was simple: "You don't have the track record."
Now I say to Senate Democratic candidates, "You don't have the track record." You want to be reelected? Talk to the people whose bidding you have done in recent years: the people in the banking, securities, insurance, real estate, health, pharmaceutical, gaming, and defense industries. You can probably find some lawyers and lobbyists to kick a few bucks your way, too.
No sooner had I hung up from that call when I opened today's OpEdNews to Rob's headline, "Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize?" His first thought -- and mine -- was, "What has he done to earn it?"
The answer (imho) is, Obama did what he does best: talk. To this point in his presidency, though, Obama has been "all blow, no show." Although a gifted speaker, he has yet to deliver on one significant promise. That is a profound disappointment. Yet it seems to be enough to merit the Nobel Peace Prize.
Some people believe the Nobel Committee awarded the Prize to Obama to shape his future decisions and actions. Yet psychologists know that delivering a reward in advance of a performance does little to influence the quality or even the likelihood of getting the desired behavior.
What we need from Barack Obama now is leadership. That means he will have to take charge of, and take personal responsibility for, his administration's agenda, actions, and outcomes -- for better or worse.
If the health care initiative is any indicator, that may be the Obama administration's biggest challenge for change. When Obama was given a 10 million-vote mandate to make health care happen, he handed the mandate over to hapless Congressional Democrats and the agenda over to nefarious Congressional Republicans while he stood on the sidelines and prattled on about bipartisanship.
In three years, Obama too will be calling for money for reelection. And if things don't change for the better soon, he will get the same answer I gave the DSCC: you don't have the track record.
