ON THE OTHER HAND...:

Why is Obama failing? (Robert Fulford, 2/20/10, National Post)

Lately he’s been masquerading as a populist, a severe critic of the banks. But few graduates of Harvard Law can do populism and Obama isn’t among them. He fools no one. This week a CNN poll reported that 45% of his fellow citizens believe he belongs to the upper class. [...]

He’s recently taken to suggesting that his administration’s problem is a failure to communicate. That’s what politicians say when they manage to fool themselves and set out to fool others. It means that substantial matters are well under control but in their haste to create a better world they have neglected communications, a relatively trivial matter.

Obama of all people should know it’s not trivial. He didn’t become President for his accomplishments; he did it mainly on oratory. But in office his tone has changed. He doesn’t seem to care whether he makes an impact or not and rarely suggests that something crucial is at stake. You can listen to him for 20 minutes and realize an hour later that you can’t remember anything he said.

He performs a sort of dance with the cameras, turning first to the right, then to the left, then back again. It seemed spontaneous for a while but it’s now pure ritual. He’s developed a manner that’s so cool it can’t be distinguished from indifference.

...it does make the animatronics version of him at Disney's Hall of Presidents seem eerily realistic....

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 20, 2010 2:00 PM