no kidding

SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2012 Is There An Imposter In The White House? An Excerpt from "Hope Is Not A Strategy" -- By John Mariotti, Forbes There is something very wrong when the sitting president refuses to divulge huge pieces of information about his background. What is he hiding? Maybe the “birthers” were a little extreme, but is there something wrong with this “manufactured candidate,” whose history remains sealed from public view? What is he hiding? Could the “Hawaii birth certificate” be a forgery? Is there something much worse—like “sponsorship” by an unnamed special interest? I don’t know. I do know that the man in the White House now is an imposter. The only question is which kind of an imposter: an incompetent “pretender” or a genuine phony, a “Manchurian candidate,” who is a liberal, ½ black and ½ white, and an obvious Muslim sympathizer (despite claims of being a Christian—in clear conflict with his non-Christian behavior). Will this campaign expose him as the imposter, and the pretender his behavior has revealed? Will it expose his hidden history and murky background. We know about his failures and mistakes. For those who don’t, here is another in this series of revealing excerpts from HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency. The book is now available on www.amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions. Other in e-book versions are available at www.smashwords.com. Excerpt from the chapter: Beware the Pretender: …”No matter how many times President Obama refers to the “problems he inherited,” he has now been in office three years. Certainly many of the current problems can be traced back to events that happened during the eight years that Bush held the top office, and some can be traced back to even earlier presidencies—but far from all of them. Many of the problems are newly created (or made worse), and Barack Obama owns them. Candidate Obama stepped up and essentially said, “I want the job, and everything that comes with it” by running for president. After three years in office, the problems now belong to him and his presidency. He caused them, made them worse, or didn’t solve them. Either way, they are his now. …In leadership, you cannot “pretend” to be a leader. You either are—or you aren’t—a leader. One or the other will become apparent very quickly. If you want the leadership job, you must step up and take full ownership of it. A “pretender” or “poser” is like an actor who has learned all the right lines, but has no idea what they mean. Once the script has been followed (or deviated from), the actor is clueless about what to do next. This is the job of the leader. Unfortunately, in this government, the “directors” often seem clueless, having learned in academia where results and wins/losses are theoretical, or in politics where success (at getting elected) is more a matter of rhetoric than results. If you are not ready for a position, or do not believe that you have what it takes to rise to the challenge (or clean up the mess even if you believe it is not your mess), then do not take the job. This was Barack Obama’s fundamental mistake. He grossly underestimated the difficulty of the position he was running for, and overestimated his preparedness to actually do the job. Just because he could “talk a good game” (thanks to a phalanx of speech writers and the omnipresent teleprompters) does not mean he actually knew what to do or how to do it. The presidency of the United States of America is not a place for heavy OJT (On-the Job-Training)….” After the first three plus years of the presidency, it is painfully clear that Barack Obama was a “pretty face,” and “glib speaker” and a lightweight liberal politician with a community organizer/radical background. The American people should be outraged at this man’s behavior and even his candidacy. Why are they not? Because of the misinformation delivered by sympathetic liberal/mainstream media who loves his nonsensical form of governing. …”Obama’s perceived preparedness for the presidency is a terrible delusion, from which it is difficult to escape. Mistakes build upon each other and result in even more complex problems. Difficult problems that are mishandled become even more difficult to fix. When you have too little experience, lack substance (other than the words of your latest speech), then leading, managing and problem solving simply don’t happen. And that is what has occurred. When you compound the problem by surrounding your self with like-minded theorists, lacking in real-world experience, things become worse yet. The theoretical solutions to problems often don’t work due to the messiness of the real world—and the reasons are almost unfathomable to these rookie executive/politicians. …” What should Americans think about this “imposter?” Will he divulge his true background so we can all see who he is and where he came from—really? If not, is this just a man who should never have been sworn into the office of President in the first place, and who has crippled Americans miserably during his term? Will we continue to believe his misstatements (the politically correct term for lies)? Can he simply use the media to “erase and forget the past three years of misery and missteps?” Or will we learn from his imperialistic behavior and terrible results and throw him out in November? That is what why we wrote HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency. To learn more go to: www.hopeisnotastrategybook.com and sign up—and go to www.amazon.com and buy the book—and see for yourself! There are thirty chapters that reveal what was behind Barack Obama’s mistakes, failures and lack of leadership. CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE Sphere: Related Content POSTED BY JUDY CHAFFEE AT 5:49 AM Hope is NOT a Strategy: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency By D. M. Lukas and John L. Mariotti ©2012 All Rights Reserved Praise for "Hope is Not a Strategy, Click Here The phrase “Hope is not a strategy” was first used in recent times by Benjamin Ola Akande, an economist, scholar, and Dean of the Business School at Webster University in Saint Louis in an open letter to President Barack Obama in 2009. What Akande meant was that Obama – and any other president – needed to act. He cannot wish away problems. There must be a concentrated effort to solve problems and to increase opportunities. Sitting around thinking about how the current situation could be better would not change anything. Certainly, hope and prayer can help, but one must also be prepared to do his/her part in achieving the goal. Our purpose in this book is less to be critical of Barack Obama and his presidency, and more to find the lessons in the mistakes made, so they are less likely to be repeated. We believe that failures represent some of the greatest of life’s learning opportunities. By taking these very public and very painful failures and extracting the lessons from them, we want to help future generations to avoid those mistakes—those failures. Most of all, we know that these lessons can be transferred to the world of business too—especially in the United States of America. It is our fervent belief that many of these lessons will help Americans in all walks of life be more successful, and they, in turn, will help our great nation return to economic growth and prosperity. Table of Contents: INTRODUCTION: Hope is Not A Strategy I. LEADERSHIP CHAPTER ONE: Style Is Only More Important Than Substance—Temporarily CHAPTER TWO: Speeches Are Not Plans—or Strategies CHAPTER THREE: Don’t Change Your Values to Fit Your Audiences CHAPTER FOUR: You Never Win Pitting Groups in an Organization Against Each Other CHAPTER FIVE: Integrity Is Your Most Important Asset CHAPTER SIX: What Do You Do When Nobody Is Following Your Lead? II. EXPERIENCE AND PEOPLE CHAPTER SEVEN: There’s No Substitute for Real Experience CHAPTER EIGHT: You Are Only as Good as the People You Surround Yourself with CHAPTER NINE: You Are Known by the Company You Keep CHAPTER TEN: Stay Humble, Don’t Believe Your Own Hype CHAPTER ELEVEN: Beware the Pretender III. TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER TWELVE: Words And How You Use Them ARE Powerful CHAPTER: THIRTEEN Be Prepared To Deal With The Consequences of Your Actions CHAPTER FOURTEEN: When You Don’t Have The Answer—Don’t Try To Sound Like You Do CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Take Responsibility For Your Actions—and Your Mistakes CHAPTER SIXTEEN: There Are No Successful Victims IV. MISTAKES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Noble Intentions Don’t Justify Screwing Up CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: If Something Is Too Big To Fail, It Will! CHAPTER NINETEEN: Throwing Money At Problems Doesn’t Fix Them CHAPTER TWENTY: All Spending Is Not “Investment” CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Victory By Definition Isn’t Victory V. HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Change For Change Sake Can Be Harmful CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Wishing Doesn’t Make It Happen CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Tactical Executives Lose…Strategic Executives Win CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: The Humpty-Dumpty Principle CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Understand Your Customer Before You Try To Sell Them Something VI. TIMELESS TRUTHS CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Take Care Of The Stakeholders…They’ll Take Care Of You CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Lack Of Focus Will Sink You CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Accountability Will Make You CHAPTER THIRTY: The Definition Of Insanity CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Make Three Envelopes D. M. Lukas and John L. Mariotti, Columbus, OH 2012