Obama Wasn't Ready in 2008, Isn't Ready Now

In 2008, the RNC warned what would happen if Americans voted to elevate one of the least experienced presidential candidates in history to the Oval Office. 

Like boarding a plane with a pilot who has never flown, we would be trusting the security of our nation to a man with no executive experience and a thin foreign policy resume. In the wake of crises, Americans would have to play the waiting game while we determined whether our commander in chief could perform on the world stage.

Enter President Obama’s recent handling of the Syrian Conflict: a batch of mixed messages to the American people and a Congressional sales pitch that convinced more people to vote against his proposal than in favor. Five years of on-the-job-training later, we have a president who cornered himself in what can only be described as a foreign policy debacle.

Worse, he had no plan and no experience on how to get out.

<>A day after Syria threatened retaliation and Vladimir Putin offered Obama an escape route, our President took the bait and handed a victory to Syria and Russia.  

Time‘s Joe Klein writes:

He willingly jumped into a bear trap of his own creation. In the process, he has damaged his presidency and weakened the nation’s standing in the world.”

It’s not just Republicans who are questioning his leadership. His performance is so haphazard, he disappointed even his most ardent supporters.

The Washington Post‘s Ruth Marcus writes:

In the past few weeks, I have encountered not a single person outside the White House, Republican or Democrat, who has kind words for Obama’s performance. Scornful may not be too strong a word for the consensus view, though it is scorn leavened, at least among the more thoughtful critics, with appreciation for the no-good-options reality of Syria.”

His struggling poll numbers shows he isn’t winning over the American public either. 

So where is the man who campaigned on building American credibility abroad? Or does he agree with President Putin that American exceptionalism is too dangerous of an idea?

Republicans expressed concerns years ago. Obama wasn’t ready to lead then, and his train wreck policies prove he isn’t ready to lead now.