YOU KNOW WHAT WORD FOLLOWS "GENIAL" WHEN DESCRIBING PRESIDENTS:

A Turning Tide?: Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes. (Howard Fineman, 3/10/09, Newsweek)

Luckily for Obama, the public still likes and trusts him, at least judging by the latest polls, including NEWSWEEK's. But, in ways both large and small, what's left of the American Establishment is taking his measure and, with surprising swiftness, they are finding him lack-ing.

They have some reasons to be concerned. I trace them to a central trait of the president's character: he's not really an in-your-face guy. By recent standards—and that includes Bill Clinton as well as George Bush—Obama for the most part is seeking to govern from the left, looking to solidify and rely on his own party more than woo Republicans. And yet he is by temperament judicious, even judicial. He'd have made a fine judge. But we don't need a judge. We need a blunt-spoken coach.

Obama may be mistaking motion for progress, call-ing signals for a game plan. A busy, industrious over-achiever, he likes to check off boxes on a long to-do list. A genial, amenable guy, he likes to appeal to every constituency, or at least not write off any. A beau ideal of Harvard Law, he can't wait to tackle extra-credit answers on the exam.

Let's do the math here: He'd have made a fine judge + we don't need a judge = We don't need Barrack Obama. Ouch.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2009 9:15 AM