Obama facing crisis over incompetence

Hot Air    ...."The Obama administration has been damaged by the scandals of the past two months, but it’s still too early to see if they will cause the kind of long-term damage Bush suffered from those two chapters in his presidency.  It may well be that incompetence is the better option in terms of perception for Obama and his White House, depending on what the investigations find."

The administration is facing a crisis of competence. At a time when trust in government is already at an all-time low, the events of this past week illustrate the limits of this president’s power. The White House seems more comfortable stage-managing the news than dealing with the uncomfortable crises that inevitably crop up. (If there’s anything to learn from the Benghazi crisis, it was the administration’s attentiveness to detail in how to avoid blame in the aftermath of the crisis, but a lack of focus in how to react as the crisis was occurring.)

In the above National Journal article, Obama's Crisis of Competence,

"For months, as the Morsi government has taken steps to consolidate power, quash critics and marginalize independent civil society groups, President Obama and his top aides have been largely silent in public. No effort was made to use the leverage of U.S. aid to compel a change of policy."

Quoting Bloomberg News: John Kerry’s Bid for Mideast Peace Is Doomed:  "It’s a testament to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s grit, determination and self-assurance that he refuses to give up in his quest to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. But I wish that he would, during the long slog toward renewed talks, ask himself one question: Why didn’t his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, apply herself to the problem in the same manner?"

Related: Which is in worse shape, Obama’s domestic agenda or his foreign policy?    "Encouraged by the president, the notion is rampant that America can take a holiday from history. In the real world, we and our allies face an upsurge in instability, violence, Islamic extremism and contempt for human rights — which is what one gets when the United States takes the left’s advice and stops being the “world’s policeman.” "