City of New York, October 3, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Our political differences have grown so profound, and become so nasty, that we’ve lost sight of the one thing that matters more than policy: competence.  Even the wisest, most carefully conceived policy will end in failure if the officials who execute it have no idea what they’re doing.

To point out the obvious, President Obama and his team are utterly, completely incompetent when it comes to executing national policy.  The catastrophic launch of Obamacare is only the latest example.  Whatever that gun-running operation to Mexico called Fast-and-Furious was really about, it’s clear the administration made a mess of it.  The president and his national security team failed to protect our consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.  And when the attack came they failed miserably, and fatally, to rescue our Ambassador and his three colleagues.

I’m not asserting that the president and his team are totally incompetent.  They do a better job of getting their base out to vote than any group of politicos have ever done before in our country’s history.  Their efforts to trash their political opponents are unfair and often vicious but — alas — they are astoundingly successful.  Their talents for deflecting blame and stonewalling investigations of their criminal mid-deeds are extraordinary.

It’s just that they have no idea how to run a government — which is what they were elected to do.

Author’s note to those readers who are already jumping out of their chairs and starting to type comments-to-the-editor suggesting, not very politely, that Herb Meyer is so stupid he doesn’t even realize that all these “failures” are actually brilliant maneuvers by the President and his team to destroy our country:

Yes, I know it’s a mistake to underestimate one’s enemies.  But it’s an even bigger mistake to overestimate your enemies and give them more credit than they’re due.  And this bigger mistake happens in politics all the time. Continued