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Michael Lewis’s Vanity Piece on Obama

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I go out of my way to read stuff written by Michael Lewis. I was looking forward to getting some insight from his piece on Barack Obama in the most recent issue of Vanity Fair. It turns out it’s a puff piece that could be summarized as follows: Michael Lewis thinks President Obama is really cool. But what neither Lewis nor the president may have expected is the light it sheds on how Obama got us into the mess in Libya. The article, much to Vanity Fair’s dismay, might end up putting the president in a tough spot, especially now that foreign policy is going to be front and center in the debates.

Libya is going to be a real problem for the president, especially when you see how he came to his decision to save the people of Benghazi. Before committing to help, he met with “the principals,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, White House Chief of Staff William Daley, Head of the National Security Council Tom Donilon, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. They gave him two options: do nothing or establish a no-fly zone. The president rejected both:

Obama then proceeded to call on every single person for his views, including the most junior people. “What was a little unusual,” Obama admits, “is that I went to people who were not at the table. Because I am trying to get an argument that is not being made.”…

Several of these people had been with Obama since before he was president—people who, had it not been for him, would have been unlikely ever to have found themselves in such a meeting. They aren’t political people so much as Obama people.

This is yet another example of the president acting like a regular guy and not the president. But when you’re the president of the United States, the “regular guy” is checked at the door. Lives depend on you. You need to make the decisions, and it probably makes sense to listen to your experienced advisors rather than your entourage.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.
E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.