He makes predictions that prove false. He makes promises he cannot
honor. He raises expectations he cannot meet. He reneges on commitments
made in private. He surrenders positions staked in public. He is absent
from issues in which he has a duty to be involved. He is overbearing
when he ought to be absent

By BRET STEPHENS

The aircraft was large, modern and considered among the world’s
safest. But that night it was flying straight into a huge thunderstorm.
Turbulence was extreme, and airspeed indicators may not have been
functioning properly. Worse, the pilots were incompetent. As the plane
threatened to stall they panicked by pointing the nose up, losing speed
when they ought to have done the opposite. It was all over in minutes.

Was this the fate of Flight 447, the Air France jet that plunged
mysteriously into the Atlantic a couple of years ago? Could be. What I’m
talking about here is the Obama presidency.

When it comes to piloting, Barack Obama seems to think he’s the
political equivalent of Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and—in a “Fly Me
to the Moon” sort of way—Nat King Cole rolled into one. “I think I’m a
better speech writer than my speech writers,” he reportedly told an aide
in 2008. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my
policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m . . . a better
political director than my political director.”…

MORE…