PHONEY BALONEY

One of our grandchildren was so proud when they had a perfect attendance record in first grade.  The parents were encouraging the character building traits of faithfulness and diligence.

Today the "George S. Patton of the airwaves" talked about another attendance record.  This LINK talks of a Government Accountability Institute report out which reveals the president's attendance report at his Presidential Daily Brief.

The PDB details for our leader the day's critical intelligence threats.  Meetings are important (rather than just reading the report) because  "the meeting is an opportunity to ask questions of the briefers, probe assumptions and request additional information. For those preparing the brief, meeting with the president on a daily basis gives them vital, direct feedback from the commander-in-chief about what is on his mind, how they can be more responsive to his needs, and what information he may have to feed back into the intelligence process. This process cannot be replicated on paper."

Would you like to guess about our president's attendance record?

From when he took office until mid-June this year, President Obama went 536 times...43% of the time.  During the last months (2011 through the first half of this year), his attendance dropped to just over 38%.

Contrast that to his predecessor, who almost never missed the PDB.  True, the threat level was high because of the 9/11 attack, but who would think today's volatility would decrease the need for his attention to such a meeting?  It is curious that today on the anniversary of 3,000 deaths, we should need to change the initials of the PDB to HDB (Hireling Daily Brief).  This president subcontracts his work.

What the president says should not be confused with what he does.  He said to UPS workers in 2011 "you should know that keeping the economy growing and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning." Uh huh.  Here's the Government Accountability Institute's analysis:

*throughout the first 1,257 days of his presidency, 

Mr. Obama spent 412 hours in economic meetings/briefings of any kind

*so far in 2012 the president has spent just 24 total hours 

in economic meetings of any kind

*assuming a six day/10-hour workweek, the president has spent 

less than 4% of his total time in economic meetings or briefings of any kind

*there were 773 (72%), excluding Sundays, in which he had no economic meetings

*the president has spent an average of 138 minutes a week in economic meetings

"The study, which was based upon the president’s official schedule, practically bent over backwards to include anything even remotely akin to an economic meeting. For example, “Obama meets with Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum” was tallied as an economic meeting. Also included was, “Obama meets with Cabinet secretaries,” which may or may not have dealt with economic issues, counted as well."  LINK

Well, you may be asking...then what does he spend big chunks of time on...besides campaigning?

Does a golf ball come to mind?  No one would deny a president's need for respite.  That's huge.  But after the 100th round of golf, the president SAID that it was the only place he could be outside for six hours.  Six times 100 is 600 hours.  Compare that number to 412 hours in economic meetings (of any kind).

A hands-on executive with a plan for jobs or the deficit?  A leader with control of the rudder of our ship of state?  Phoney baloney.