Remember those painful report cards?
Well, I sure do, to this day. I’m referring to the ones I received in grade school. The marks weren’t very impressive. My parents were then required to go meet with my teachers. The message my teachers delivered was always the same: “Ronnie isn’t living up to his capabilities, he isn’t performing at the level he could be.”
My mother would shout (mostly at me, but sometime at the teachers). I ignored that. So did the teachers. My dad would just ask me why I didn’t do better and my answer was always the same: “When it matters [think as when it counts toward college admission], that’ll be soon enough.” Like someone who would later become President said, I added: “Trust me. I’ll do what it takes.”
Well, when it counted, I produced. I’m not so sure about that President.
My original thought was to deliver a report card to The Donald at the half way mark of the first 100 days of his presidency, by when he promised America would be well on the way to becoming great again. I’m a little past my halfway target, but, hey, I produce when it matters. 🙂 And when it comes to The Donald, I think we’ve now reached the point where it’s starting to matter.
My old grade school report cards had three parts to them, classwork, citizenship and effort. That’s what I’ll use to grade The Donald. So, as Fareed Zakaria put’s it, let’s get started.
Classwork: Not impressive so far. Not necessarily all his fault, but he started flunking Executive Orders right out of the gate. The courts haven’t been very kind—or judicial—to the Donald so far. But he hasn’t been very presidential to them. So what does he expect? Wasn’t he supposed to be the greatest negotiator ever? Doesn’t look like such a great negotiator to me. According to Kenny Rogers, you have to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Looks to me like The Donald is living on past laurels. I think he could use a refresher course.
In International Affairs, he’s not been doing much better, casting a lot of bravado and then having to back off. Several times, in several corners of the world, China, Germany, Israel, Australia, and Mexico, to name just a few spots. You’re supposed to look before you leap. The Donald seems to leap, or at least tweet, before he looks. And that seems to bite him, and America, in the behind. Especially when it comes to The Little Runt in control of North Korea,The Donald needs to be credible or he’ll end up being ignored. And then all of America might suffer.
Now, The Donald’s just flunked his first Legislative Affairs test as well. So much for repealing and replacing Obamacare. Again, he might not be solely to blame, but . . . he didn’t prove to be much of a negotiator with the House of Representatives—on either side of the aisle, particularly his own. Seems like we may be looking at a little grade inflation here. And how does this bode–credibility wise–for the rest of his agenda, starting with his reported next target, tax reform, now that he has health care repeal and replace under control? More on this from me on Thursday.
Citizenship: Another F, I’m afraid. Bullying is out. Alternative facts are out. Someone needs to get this through to The Donald. What about his kids doing it? Oh, no, that won’t work. They’re too busy running his businesses, criticizing the Mayor of London for not preventing the recent terrorist act there, and jet-setting here and about.
Effort: I don’t want to beat The Donald up too much on this, his first report card from me as President. He’s sure been putting in the time–on Twitter. So, we’ll give him a pass, and the benefit of the doubt, this time. However, I think he does need to expand his horizons a bit. I’d like to also see him on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Especially LinkedIn, where people head when they’re looking for a job, and wanting to circulate their resume. “Ex-President. Will work for food.”
If The Donald doesn’t soon raise his marks, that may be his next gig!
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