In a New York Times op-ed, David Rothkopf  takes a critical view of President Obama’s performance as commander-in-chief so far:

But Mr. Obama and his team would benefit, as they begin the second term, by acknowledging that many of the biggest problems facing the administration flow directly from the man at the top. Mr. Obama is a lousy manager. As chief executive he gets a C — and then only if graded on a curve that takes into account his predecessor’s managerial weaknesses.

Rothkopf suggests that Obama never had the experience of playing an executive or leadership role in his career, making him unsuited for running government effectively.

Often people with no management experience — academics, writers or politicians who have never run an office with more than a handful of people — are put in charge of giant, complicated government agencies or processes. In part this is because so many people in government mistakenly believe that being able to articulate ideas is the same as being able to put ideas into action.

Rothkopf is the chief executive of the FP Group, the publisher of Foreign Policy magazine.