Obama Continues to Show Immaturity

President Barack Obama has plenty of enemies and they flank him on both the left and the right. He is oblivious to the interests of voters and consistently interprets political events in a manner completely contrary to the facts. His presidency is barely a year old and it is in serious trouble.

While the rest of the nation sat in awe of the events that took place in a special election in Massachusetts that put a Republican in a Senate seat held by a Kennedy for a half of century, President Obama concluded that such was a result of policy makers going too slow on health care reform. He came to this conclusion in spite of the following:

The state of Massachusetts had been under a socialized health care system since 2006 and it has led to higher prices and rationed care.

In spite of the fact that Massachusetts is 3 to 1 Democrats, it still chose a Republican for the Senate.

If the voter rage in Massachusetts was due to Republican resistance to reform, why would they elect a member of the GOP to this office?

As I read these obvious facts it seems like the need for an explanation is laughable. These points should be clear to the most casual observer, but Obama is building a policy strategy that is contrary to these facts. This indicates that either he questions the intelligence of his constituents or his constituents should worry about the "Emperor's new clothes" or, in this case, strategy. This approach to governing may work with petty dictators who are not accountable to voters or other branches of government, but it is still highly questionable in the United States.

In regards to the branches of government, Obama has developed this knack of attacking the Legislative and Judicial branches as if they are not necessary in accomplishing his policy objectives. In a special joint session of Congress in September 2009, Obama claimed that members of Congress who stated that the President's health care bill would include illegal immigrants were distorting the facts. Members had seen enough of the bill to know that the President was misleading the audience and compelled Cong. Joe Wilson (R-SC) to exclaim out loud, "You lie!" We have rarely seen such a reaction from a member of Congress, then again, we have rarely seen such an attack by a president on the Legislative branch. In the President's State of the Union address, the President again went on the war path at another branch of power. In this case it was the Judicial branch and the Supreme Court.

During the President's speech, Obama openly criticized a recent Supreme Court decision on corporate and other group funding of judicial races. The President claimed that the Court reversed a century worth of opinion on the subject by allowing for such funding. The reality is, there was very little court opinion on the subject until a few decades and virtually all of that was without precedence. In spite of this, it was still surprising than that one Justice (Samuel Alito), actually shook his head and said something to the effect of "not true." This was another demonstration we have not witnessed during an event such as this, but we have never had a president quite like Obama. All of these incidents point to problems in his future when it comes to governing.

Obama's last job was US Senator, which he did not finish one term. Before that he was a part time State Senator from Illinois and community organizer, neither of which are typical springboards for the highest office of the land. What we do know from his experience and temperament is that he does not bring the necessary skills and understanding to serve in the highest office of our land.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.