THE OBAMA CAPTIVITY:

Heads should roll: President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him -- and resurrecting a deflated GOP! (Camille Paglia, Mar. 11, 2009, Salon)

Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama's first seven weeks in office and given the scattered, demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and resurrection. (Michelle, please use those fabulous toned arms to butt some heads!)

First it was that chaotic pig rut of a stimulus package, which let House Democrats throw a thousand crazy kitchen sinks into what should have been a focused blueprint for economic recovery. Then it was the stunt of unnerving Wall Street by sending out a shrill duo of slick geeks (Timothy Geithner and Peter Orszag) as the administration's weirdly adolescent spokesmen on economics. Who could ever have confidence in that sorry pair?

And then there was the fiasco of the ham-handed White House reception for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which was evidently lacking the most basic elements of ceremony and protocol. Don't they read the "Iliad" anymore in the Ivy League? Check that out for the all-important ritual of gift giving, which has cemented alliances around the world for 5,000 years.

President Obama -- in whom I still have great hope and confidence -- has been ill-served by his advisors and staff.

Blaming the staff is the last place people put their hope that the president is who they wanted him to be, not who he is. Those of a certain age will recall that the "real Ronald Reagan"--the conservative warrior of Richard Viguerie's and Howard Phillips's dreams--was constantly being thwarted by James Baker and Dick Darman and made to appear moderate.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 11, 2009 6:45 AM