Spewing Hubris Before Displaying Incompetence to Check Spread of Oil Over All of the Gulf's Troubled Waters

Byron York in Washington Examiner on June 6: 

It's not mentioned much now, but in the late summer of 2008, a major hurricane, Gustav, was in the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward New Orleans, threatening a replay of the disastrous Katrina experience. On September 1, 2008, Barack Obama, fresh from his Roman-colonnade speech on the final night of the Democratic convention in Denver, talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper about Gustav and the Gulf. The question: As president, could he handle an emergency like that? Obama pointed to the size of his campaign and its multi-million dollar budget as evidence of his executive abilities. "Our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years," Obama said. That executive ability, he added, "indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect."

That of course was then . . . when he was campaigning. Performance, or its absence, is now. Detached lethargy from the get go, followed by photo ops, and then name calling, finger pointing at, and blaming others.  He claims credit for everything that works well, like the sun rising and setting on schedule, but when something doesn't go swimmingly the buck never seems to stop with the guy who reads the teleprompter and talks so smoothly.