George Leef uses his latest contribution to Forbes as a vehicle for suggesting some helpful steps President Obama could take in 2014.

Dear President Obama,

Face it — 2013 was terrible for you. If it were a baseball game, you’re like the starter who is getting shelled, alternating between wild pitches and ones that get belted out of the park – and yet you keep throwing the same old stuff. That won’t work.

I suggest some major changes, and this would be a good time to make them as New Year’s Resolutions. Half are to stop doing things that are bad habits, and half are ideas for new behaviors. Ready?

First, stop saying nasty things about other Americans who happen to disagree with you. Throughout your presidency, you have repeatedly impugned the motives of your opponents, for example insinuating that anyone who disagrees with your gun control ideas must be in favor of letting dangerous people have access to guns. And the rhetoric of your associates often goes far into uncivil territory. You should ask them to stop, say, comparing Republicans to terrorists.

Second, stop making empty, windy speeches. If you have anything new to say, by all means say it, but spare the nation those speeches that merely regurgitate statist tropes we’ve heard over and over. Of course, many of those speeches are aimed at the faithful at party fundraising events, but you should stop spending your time on those.

Third, stop making promises you cannot keep. Early on, you promised that if Congress let you have your “stimulus” package, unemployment would rapidly fall as people took lots of those “shovel-ready jobs.” That didn’t happen. The so-called “stimulus” showered money on a bunch of your cronies, while millions of ordinary Americans gave up even looking for work. And nobody needs to remind you about the promises you made regarding your “Affordable Care Act” and the ability of people to keep their plans and doctors.

Fourth, stop blaming others for your own mistakes. You have worn out your welcome with many Americans because you invariably point a finger at someone else: George W. Bush, Republican obstructionists, greedy businessmen, and so on. No one really respects a person who won’t take criticism and own up to his failures.

Fifth, stop thinking only about the next election. Your first term was just one endless campaign to win re-election and now all you’re apparently interested in is helping Democrats win in 2014. Instead, think about how much worse off the nation will be in ten, twenty, fifty years if we continue on the path of politicizing just about everything. You might, for example consider the long-run, unintended, harmful effects of the “Affordable Care Act.” Do you really want people decades from now linking your name to a disastrously ill-conceived law, our own “Great Leap Forward”?

Click the link above to read George’s list of five positive resolutions for the 44th president.