Ronald Reagan was typecast as the Teflon president, but he had nothing on Barack Obama.

Reagan was an amateur. Irrespective of what goes on in this country while Obama reminds us he is the Commander-in-Chief, he is insulated from responsibility like no one before him including Bill Clinton.

One of the disturbing areas of this president is the constant and continual evincing of his brand of judgment. It is either poor or absent. Neither is good for the country, and the mounting scandals continue prove that point.

While it would be prodigal to itemize the stale list of Obama’s judgment calls, it is of value to emphasize that bad choices started early-on, as shown, for one, in his selection of appointments such as Timothy Geithner to head the U.S. Treasury. Geithner became kingpin of the department that collects federal income taxes from all of the country’s earners, while he himself did not pay his own due share. As was the case (i.e., tax status) with many other people, Obama either tried to, or did, put them in key roles in his administration.

Setting aside the long list of scandals accruing on a regular basis within the Obama administration, we’ll look at the selection of Susan Rice as the nation’s National Security Advisor.

Susan Rice came from upper crust and privilege. In addition to benefiting from her parents’ ties, she was mentored into her career by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Rice’s career history includes assistant secretary of state for African affairs and special assistant to President Clinton and senior director for African affairs as far back as 1995, and security council involvement in 1993. Clearly she is very acquainted with security measures in Africa, e.g. Libya.

Susan Rice is highly educated and accomplished. She is no dummy. It is no leap to assess that with her credentials, it is highly improbable that she was either naive or uninformed about her subject matter in her television circuit laps within days of the Libyan terrorism. Being neither naive or uninformed, that leaves one option – and we know what that means.

Whichever excuse Obama sycophants may use for Rice’s infamous Sunday-morning parroting, she has NEVER emerged in public again to offer any explanation on her own behalf for her tale.

Obama couldn’t fly the kite of Susan Rice as secretary of state with the Benghazi cloud over her head, so he bided time and she was grease-slipped into the slot of National Security Advisor. That post is not subject to Senate approval.

The action of making that choice by Obama is one or a combination of the following: arrogance, poor judgment, lack of judgment, payback for a job well done regarding her five-talk-show Sunday after the Benghazi attacks, or the impenetrable insulation Rice will now have, via executive privilege, to testify about her knowledge of the Benghazi facts – a poke in the eye to Republicans and the country, or just plain juvenile petulance.

James Carville, the close Clinton advisor, stated on MSNBC, “My guess is that he wanted her to be secretary of state, and he felt like she kind of got railroaded there … but he obviously thinks a great deal of Ambassador Rice. Like I say, he wanted her to be secretary of state.”

“She’s not confirmable,” Carville added, “and it’s like a message that he’s going to stick by. He views her as a competent person and probably as a friend of his. You know, I think it’s an in-your-face appointment, and he feels good about making it.”

At the podium June 5, Obama introduced Rice with her new title, describing her as an “exemplary public servant … one of the most qualified and experienced experts in the field of foreign policy.” He continued, “Susan is a fierce champion for justice and human dignity.”

Justice? As I think of the four victims begging for help that never came, and as I recall the testimony of the survivors who were there experiencing the horror? Human dignity? As I think of the bloodied beaten body photos of Ambassador Stevens?

It is undoubtedly safe to say the families of the four slaughtered Americans who still have their questions unanswered, especially by this expert, disagree with the Obama’s assessed praises.

If any humor can be found in this travesty, it would be Obama’s comment about Rice in his accolade: “I’m absolutely confident that you’re going to hit the ground running.”

Yes, President Obama, the country agrees. “Running” is exactly the word many of us would use, as well. We can add the accompaniment of “hiding,” which is what Rice has been doing since the scandal broke and only coming out now under the protection of executive privilege.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.