Leaders in the military are taught to quickly identify, isolate and focus on the most important things in a war to the exclusion of lesser things. That is because to be successful, the focus of a military leader’s efforts has to be on winning the war, not on winning individual battles, no matter how tempting. President Obama has yet to learn that
lesson, and therefore has yet to learn how to lead.

He has evaluated the nation’s current situation and properly concluded that there are three very important issues which require the nation’s attention. Unfortunately, he has been unable to figure out that all three are not of equal significance. Therefore, he has failed to determine which is the most important.

If Obama loses the battle of “Healthcare,” he can still win the war. If he loses the battle of “Global Warming” he can still win the war. But if he loses the battle of restoring the economy and “Creating Jobs,” he will lose the war. That is why at twelve noon on January 20th, 2009, Obama’s focus and the focus of everyone in his Administration should have converged with laser beam intensity on the task of creating jobs.

The urgency of the hour called for Obama to set aside all other agenda items and to focus on restoring the economy, on creating jobs – real jobs – and more jobs. He could not afford then, nor can he afford now, to allow those on Capital Hill to dilute and divert the Administration’s and the nation’s energies and focus. Our nation can not afford to be distracted by the pursuit of Healthcare and Global Warming -- as important as these two issues might be.

All presidential speeches, actions and programs from the hour of Obama’s inauguration until the present time, should have focused on growing the economy and creating jobs. Somewhere, tucked into every speech given by the President and by every member of the Administration, should have been a mention of the need to create jobs. Every subject debated on Capital Hill should have included practical, workable and immediate courses of productive action that would impact the economy and job growth.

When I was growing up my mother taught me that if an individual, a family, or a government spends more money than it has in its accounts, it will be forced to borrow to make up for the short fall and the money it borrows will have to be paid back with interest. She said that if the government couldn’t pay back its loans on time, it would be forced to borrow more money or go into default.

She said that is why it was prudent to keep the federal budget balanced and that all of us at every level should work as hard as we can to individually get out and stay out of debt. Events such as the sub-prime lending and housing construction fiascos are warnings that the federal government has allowed our national accounts to get out of control. We have forgotten that eternal financial vigilance should be a top national priority and that continued abuse of our economic system is suicidal.

It almost seems like Cicero had the Obama Administration in mind when he wrote in 55 BC that, “The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome [The United States]  become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Two years ago if you had asked any American of any political stripe, from the President of the United States, to a junior member of Congress, to the wizened old bureaucrat, to the vice president of a venerated Wall Street firm, to the president of a local bank in the mid-west, to a grievance committeeman in a labor union, what was the number one problem facing the nation, the answer would have been a loud, resounding, “Creating Jobs!” The same is true today.

As President, Obama’s primary goal should be to lead the nation out of its current economic crisis into the sunlight of financial solvency, but he lacks a sense of urgency. He seems deaf to the cries of citizens, like the “Tea Baggers,” who try to get him to focus on fixing the nation’s economy.

If all the effort and time that have been spent on the healthcare debate and formulation of healthcare legislation had been spent creating jobs, the nation would be well on the way toward solving its financial crisis. To the severe detriment of our nation, Obama the leader has focused his primary attention on a secondary issue – healthcare. 

The motto of the U.S. Army’s Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, which I attended, is “Follow Me!”  At Benning infantry officers are quickly taught that pointing or suggesting is not the same thing as leading. “In war when men die, and in war some must, you can’t manage them to their death. You must lead them there.” Leadership is making right decisions and personally getting out in front when the bullets begin to fly. It is beckoning for others to leave comfort and safety and to join you in the fight.

Isn’t it time for Obama to focus the nation and the government on what is really of vital importance? Isn’t it time to stop the blame game, to stop assigning fault to others for the problems Obama and his Administration have failed to solve? Whether he likes it or not, the President of the United States is responsible for everything that happens during his administration good or bad, right or wrong --even those things held over from previous administrations. Obama was elected to lead the nation and to solve national problems, to evaluate and establish priorities, not to dodge and weave, assign blame, preen and avoid responsibility.

Mr. President, if you have any leadership ability within you -- and I pray that you have --now is the time to demonstrate it.