After listening to John Gambling on WOR radio this morning, my wife suggested I read an Op-Ed opinion column in today's New York Post, which Gambling quoted excerpts from. It was written by, Leon G. Cooperman, C.F.A. Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Omega Advisors, Inc., a $3.5 billion hedge fund based in New York City.
The reason the column caught her attention was that the author voiced several opinions quite similar to my own regarding the president. And while I found it quite interesting throughout, the last paragraphs pretty much sum up the author's thoughts.
He writes: "When you were a community organizer in Chicago, you learned the art of waging a guerrilla campaign against a far superior force. But you’ve graduated from that milieu and now help to set the agenda for that superior force. You might do well at this point to eschew the polarizing vernacular of political militancy and become the transcendent leader you were elected to be.
You are likely to be far more effective, and history is likely to treat you far more kindly for it."
As for myself, I've written about the president's background in "community organizing" many times in prior blog's myself. Except I used somewhat different vernacular, calling him a baseball bat wielding thug ala typical Chicago political hacks. And when the author states that "you’ve graduated from that milieu and now help to set the agenda for that superior force," I somewhat disagree, because I don't think the president's graduated at all.
While it's true that the president has arrived in a position that's light years above his political origins, I don't think he's grown an iota of an inch in stature, capability or maturity and is still the same old empty suit, except that the fabric's now much more expensive.
And that's where the author perhaps gave the president too much credit, because I think he made an over-assumption based on his own success. Coming from a home where his father was a plumber in the South Bronx who emigrated with his wife from Poland, the author was the first family member to earn a college degree. He credits utilizing a good public education system, attending PS 75, Morris High School and Hunter College (all in The Bronx, NY) and his parents’ constant prodding as the foundation for his later business and personal success.
So, here we have a guy (the author) who grew within the system by taking advantage of the opportunities afforded him (such as free education,) then went out and became a success in a twenty-five year career with Goldman Sachs. He later opened his own firm, which today manages $3.5 billion in assets. He also mentions that he gives back to the community in appreciation of what's been afforded him on a regular basis, although he mentioned no specifics.
As far as the president's concerned though, I don't get the sense that he feels that anyone who has less should strive to fend for themselves, as did the article's author, but instead should resent those who succeed and demand their support, particularly through increased taxes.
But, perhaps, it's all a matter of perspective as far as the author's concerned and maybe he's assuming everyone works as hard as he does to make a success of themselves. And because he accepts hard work and dedication as givens in all of us, maybe he doesn't realize that many people don't even try at all to succeed and gladly take all they can from those who do. And the one's who do the very least and take the very most all seem to be politicians, especially the one at the top of the heap.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
No comments:
Post a Comment