Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Obama Doctrine

Now that we've had a chance to see how the president and his branch execute under stress, I believe that it's time to formalize and confirm the foundational principle of the Obama Administration.

Each occupant of the oval office has placed an imprint on the nation, and indeed the world, by either formally articulating or implicitly adopting a fairly consistent set of attitudes, objectives, and stances that guide their actions and behavior. While the most public (and famous) of presidential doctrines relate mainly to foreign affairs, it's clear that -- as domestic policy has become more federal and more transparent -- the same attitudes are applied to domestic affairs as well.

So it is with Mr. Obama, who has selected an administrative team on both foreign and domestic policy that appear to me to be a very consistent reflection of his approach.

I summarize that approach as: "If it's hard, we don't have to do it."

I'll let the interwebs serve as the best place to show you examples of the Doctrine at work (consider it my own little moment of homage to the Obama Doctrine itself).

To be clear, I don't intend or expect to convince his supporters of my opinion. This simply allows me to use a bit of shorthand when discussing current politics with friends over the holidays.

Uncle Pete: "I think that the administration should ride out the storm of current bad publicity in the interests of accomplishing a great public service."
Me: "Oh. Well, Obama Doctrine."

Hope this helps you too.