I am beginning to suspect that Barack Obama is incapable of making a decision.  This would not surprise me, because I have known many people in positions of power who cannot make a decision.  These people typically ask for more and more information in a desperate hope that circumstances will make the decision for them.  Often they make the decision to not make a decision, which is usually the worst possible decision.

To those of you who are Downton Abbey fans, this scenario played out with regard to the youngest daughter.  She was showing symptoms of eclampsia.  The local doctor wanted to do an emergency C section, which he admitted was a high risk procedure.  The high-priced London doctor wanted to wait; because he wasn’t convinced she had eclampsia.  The delay in making a decision resulted in her becoming extremely ill to the point where there were no options.  She died shortly after giving birth, with the parents and the husband watching hopelessly wracked with guilt.

Sometimes, the situation demands a strong person willing to make a decision.  The President of the United States has a duty to make decisions.  But I can’t recall a single circumstance where President Obama made a tough call.  By all accounts, he didn’t approve the raid on Osama bin Laden until the last possible moment.  If sources are correct, he only made it then because he really didn’t have a choice.  We know that he definitely did not make a decision about Benghazi during the evening of September 11, 2012.  He couldn’t even make a decision on how to handle the fiscal cliff.  That is why Republicans, in an act of desperation, reached out to Joe Biden. 

I don’t think Obama is capable of making a decision about Eric Holder.  I think he will just ignore the problem and hope that the decision is made for him.  He will wait until Republicans have some smoking gun evidence so overpowering that Obama will have no choice.  At this point, I am not even sure that Obama has made the decision to make a decision.  That is what makes this situation so difficult to predict and so potentially dangerous for the President. 

Every administration has a lot of palace intrigue.  Dick Cheney and Colin Powell were definitely at odds and Cheney even mixed it up with Condoleezza Rice.  But in the Bush administration, everyone knew that George W. Bush would make the final decision.  No one questioned who was in charge.

I am sure there is at least as much turmoil within the Obama administration and this is exacerbated by Obama’s inability to make a decision.  We are already starting to see leaks by people who want Holder to resign.  Other people are desperately lobbying Obama to keep Holder.  There appears to be a strong contingent in the White House that doesn’t think there is a problem.  The least likely outcome is a bold and decisive move by Obama.  It just isn’t in his character.

Those who cannot make decisions, have decisions forced upon them.  I don’t think this Republican congress can tolerate Holder remaining in office.  The Republican base will come unglued if that happens.  Holder clearly misrepresented the truth in his testimony before congress.  However I am sure Republicans would really rather not get into a word parsing contest to determine whether or not this amounted to perjury.  But they may not have a choice, because neither the White House nor Holder is willing to admit that this was even an error.

Unless Holder resigns sooner, rather than later, we are probably headed toward a constitutional crisis.  Most administrations have found a way to avoid this type of constitutional challenge.  But if Obama cannot bring himself to make a decision, Republicans may have no alternative but to challenge him.  If this is allowed to escalate it may be difficult, if not impossible, for either side to back down.

TDM