The Obama effect *UPDATED OFTEN*

Today, as I was reading the headlines (Middle East decompensating, Qaddafi slaughtering his own people, mass hysteria about Japan’s less-than-likely nuclear disaster, the collapsing American economy), I asked myself, “Why did this all have to happen on the incompetent Obama’s watch?”  I then realized that the question had the answer.

This all is happening because of the incompetent Obama watch.  Without a strong, intelligent hand in the White House, the structures that once held our world together are collapsing.  Even with regard to the earthquake and tsunami, as to which Obama had no control, his lack of leadership in playing down the nuclear hysteria is significant and plays out in the ongoing market collapse.

I called him an empty suit on the very first day he appeared on the political scene.  Although I’ve since added Leftist ideologue and affinity-to-Islam on the negative side of the Obama column, my fundamental premise hasn’t changed much.  He’s an empty suit — lazy, ill-informed, mean-spirited, tyrannical and totally incapable of true leadership.

(John Podhoretz makes the same point, only he does it better.)

UPDATE:  Rich Lowry also has the measure of the man:

Osama bin Laden famously talked of the weak horse and the strong horse. Obama is the show horse. As a U.S. senator, he distinguished himself more by saying things than by passing legislation. In the White House, he has replicated his role as the non-legislating legislator on a grand scale. His successes have been as the leader of the Democrats in Congress, although even here, the word “leader” applies only loosely. He set the broad goals and gave the speeches; otherwise, he let Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid run riot.

And here’s Jim Geraghty on Obama’s almost staggering fecklessness.  Read it carefully and remember that this is the person that a credulous, naive American population, guided by a cynical, dishonest media, handed the most powerful job in the world.

Keith Koffler, who bills himself as a totally independent, veteran White House reporter, makes much the same point.

Jennifer Rubin notes, though, that the Kool-Aid drinkers are still swallowing and dreaming about that Obama magic.

Ed Morrissey points out, as I did above, that the great communicator is utterly failing to communicate regarding the nuclear situation in Japan and the nuclear situation at home.

James Taranto too sees Obama’s apathy as an affirmative problem, not just an absence of action.