In the prologue of his book, The Amateur, Edward Klein relates a discussion that took place between Bill and Hillary Clinton at their home in Chappaqua, New York, in August 2011. In the company of a few old friends, Bill was trying to convince Hillary to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in the 2012 Democratic primary. In the ensuing argument, Clinton continued to urge his wife, declaring "Obama doesn't know how to be president. He doesn't know how the world works. He's incompetent. He's...he's..." Stopping cold before delivering the ultimate condemnation of the worst president in history, Clinton declared "Barack Obama is an amateur!"

After having observed Obama in action (or inaction, some would argue) for four years, I have to agree. His amateurishness has been on prominent display during his entire administration. Examples are legion, such as jumping to the defense of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was arrested for disorderly conduct. Without waiting for the facts involved, Obama quickly concluded that Gates was the innocent victim of racial profiling, which, according to the Cambridge police report, was not the case. This was one instance of many in which Obama interfered with due process of the law -- meddling in cases many steps below the national level.

Amateurs don't know how to lead or manage. Barack Obama had never managed so much as a hot dog stand prior to his presidency. Nothing in his career had prepared him for the highest office in the land. Most Army lieutenants have had more leadership training and experience than he had. And they have definitely been trained to accept responsibility for their actions -- a task Obama has repeatedly refused to do, blaming ninety percent of his own lack of judgment on his predecessor.

Knowing he has no record to stand on, with one monumental failure after another, he is now desperately campaigning in the assault mode, attacking his opponent on everything from his private income to how he treats his dog.

Obama's single-minded dedication to campaigning for re-election has caused him to neglect the most important job he has: running the country and protecting the American people. Routinely skipping daily intelligence briefings during a time of what could be termed "crisis" in the Middle East, is inexcusable.

Concocting a naive excuse (or perhaps calculated deception) about the riots that resulted in the death of the ambassador to Libya and three of his staff demonstrates a new threshold in the current administration's refusal to confront reality. In spite of compelling evidence that the attacks on the embassy were planned to coincide with September 11, Obama and staff maintain the riots were spontaneous -- the result of a video posted on You-Tube by a radical American preacher mocking Mohammed. Their response to the incident was to develop a video to run on Pakistani television, apologizing for the actions of one American citizen.

With his recent appearances at Hollywood star-studded fund-raiser dinners, and then on the David Letterman show and "The View," (both of which offer little more than third-rate entertainment, replete with unsubstantiated observations on things in general), Obama has reached a new low in statesmanship. In a classic case of "fiddling while Rome burns," he schmoozes with celebrities while the national debt soars above $16 trillion, and unrest in the Middle East simmers just under the boiling point. Sending in a handful of Marines to keep the peace, he feels comfortable in continuing to campaign.

Refusing to meet with any foreign leaders during the United Nations session this week is another case of gross neglect of his responsibilities and failure of leadership. It is especially true in the case of Israel, our only reliable ally in the Middle East. This tiny country is under constant threat by its neighbors, especially Iran. Obama refuses to take this seriously, and therefore declines Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a meeting. Not only is the Amateur-in-Chief not qualified for his job, but his failure to perform his basic duties could jeopardize the safety of United States citizens. Iran's oft- stated plans are to wipe out the United States right after they annihilate Israel.

I, for one, would be much more inclined to vote for a President who concentrates on doing his job instead of being constantly in the campaign mode, chatting it up with celebrities and ignoring the duties of our nation's highest office. His unprecedented dereliction of duty is appalling. Any military officer who behaved with such reckless abandonment of his responsibilities would be court-martialed.

(As for Clinton's derogatory remarks in the first paragraph, in the style of a true politician, he totally reversed himself by throwing his support behind "the amateur" at the recent Democratic National Convention -- praising his stellar performance and declaring him indisputably worthy of re-election.)

Lt. Col. Carolyn Abell, USA (ret.) is a regular contributor to Gulf1.com.


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