It’s time to Break It Down!

Note: This is a reprised, amended, and expanded presentation of my original blog post, a version of which I have subsequently shared eight times.

Happy 19th Anniversary “Break It Down!”

Today, in acknowledgment of another anniversary of this publication, as I have often done in years past, I am revisiting my inaugural post.

Before launching into that post, it is only fitting to add a little context. My original blog entry centered on a young lion named Barack Obama, then still emerging on the national stage, moving toward what would, for all practical purposes, become his era.

Tempus fugit—time flies. Today marks a significant milestone in the life and development of “Break It Down!” I began this blog on August 20, 2007, on something close to a lark—almost a dare. That was exactly nineteen years and 990 editions ago, come tomorrow. Since I have told the backstory several times over the years, I will spare readers the full recounting today.

What I will note, however, is that on that summer evening I spent five paragraphs considering the experience—or, more accurately, the perceived lack of it—of then Senator Barack Obama as he navigated the early stages of his historic presidential campaign.

In a nutshell, Post #1 consisted of five brisk paragraphs and a sign-off:

“In an apparent, calculated act of derring-do, Obama declares the virtue of inexperience. Gotta love it!

Personal footnote of recollection: I remember Jimmy Carter running the classic “anti-Washington” campaign in 1975–76—one built, in part, around his lack of Capitol Hill experience. And you know what? It worked.

The problem was that once President Carter sent many of the reigning bureaucrats and policy wonks home, he was left with an assembly of newcomers who did not fully understand how to get things done in Washington. 

The result was that a very smart man, a genuine humanitarian, and an otherwise successful leader presided over what was widely perceived at the time as a disastrous presidency. His single term was fraught with serious challenges—the Shah of Iran, double-digit inflation, runaway gas prices, and the outrageous interest-rate and mortgage morass—as well as public-relations gaffes, from the infamous killer rabbit story to the failed helicopter rescue attempt.

Fortunately for former President Carter, he lived long enough and did enough good work after leaving office to distance himself from much of that unremarkable one-term tenure, which ended with a resounding defeat at the hands of the cowboy actor, the Teflon guy.”

Of course, none of that had anything directly to do with Obama—except in the unlikely event that he prevailed. If he did, I wrote, let us hope he would not take the inexperience thing too far. As President George W. Bush constantly reminded us, getting to the White House is one thing; providing prudent and effective leadership once there is quite another. In hindsight, of course, we know President Obama not only prevailed but went on to win re-election and serve a second term.

As we are now endeavoring to navigate a sometimes tortuous and always unpredictable second year of 45/47’s second term—separated from his first term by Joe Biden’s solo run—we are buffeted by the collective exigencies of the TACO tariff policy, the Day 1 Promise Series, the mass-immigration morass, trying on new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh who will wrap up his first Quarter in office within the week, the continued broadside attacks on the Smithsonian museums, especially the National Museum of African American History and Culture, constant efforts to deflect attention from the infamous so-called Epstein Files, the circuitous saga of installing a new Attorney General and former (or current personal counsel) Todd Blanche, the now you see him, now you don’t fiasco of hiding POTUS in a catering truck, only to ensconce him on a “third” plane, while leaving the press corps and several staffers on the erstwhile Air Force-1, which in effect, was temporarily reduced to a decoy plane, and finally, traversing Mr. Trump’s war-of-choice with Iran and the quest to determine if the Strait of Hormuz will ever again be open again, as it was before Trump joined Netanyahu in a launching an attack on Iran. It is enough to make one say, “Where is Obama when you need him?” I kid, I kid.

Barack Obama, whom many Democrats—and even some Republicans—regard as a sterling orator, won wide acclaim more than two decades ago, in 2004, when he addressed the Democratic National Convention in Boston. At the time, he was an aspiring U.S. Senate candidate, fresh off an unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary. That victory catapulted him into rising-star status within Democratic Party circles, and he leveraged that newfound celebrity into a speaking role at the 2004 convention, where he delivered in spectacular fashion. He went on to win his Senate race in Illinois and served four years before mounting his successful 2008 presidential campaign.

For context, here is how national news outlets framed the Democratic presidential campaign on August 20, 2007:

Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Debate in Iowa

Obama posits virtue of inexperience: What rivals criticized as naiveté; he presented as a break from the status quo.

At that Iowa debate, Obama attempted to turn his perceived lack of national experience into a strength. Challenged by rivals over his readiness and recent foreign-policy comments, he argued that Washington experience alone had not prevented the country from making grave mistakes. “Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney,” Obama said, pointing to those who had helped lead the nation into the Iraq War. His broader point was that conventional thinking had become a habit in Washington—and that habit, he suggested, was part of the problem.

Senator Christopher Dodd countered that a president would not have time to get ready after taking office. Former Senator John Edwards, while acknowledging that Obama’s views added something to the debate, warned against airing hypothetical solutions to serious foreign-policy problems. Obama, for his part, held firm: experience mattered, but judgment mattered too.

Reflecting now on the 2008 campaign, I am struck again by how swiftly time and events pass. I am reminded, especially, of how a supremely confident senator from Illinois approached his moment. That moment propelled me to write the words, “Obama Played the Inexperience Card!” In the years since, he has gained an enormous amount of experience—political, presidential, historical, and otherwise. “Obama Played the Inexperience Card – Edition X!”

I’m done, holla back!

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Obama Played the Inexperience Card (Edition X)

This post was augmented by AI.