my, how the times, they are a changin’

These are some of the stories I read this week. There seems to be a new tone emerging in the media, wrt Obama. I don’t really have anything to add to these stories – they are pretty much to the point, and quite interesting. I included a snippet from each story, but recommend reading them all. Some are links provided by NQ readers, and some I saw elsewhere, but wanted to make sure ya’ll have seem them!

This one is my favorite.
Barack Obama Is a Terrible Bore
by Michael Wolff:

Sheesh, the guy is Jimmy Carter.

That homespun bowling crap on Jay Leno, followed by the turgid, teachy fiscal policy lecture, together with the hurt defensiveness (and bad script for it) that everybody in Washington “is Simon Cowell… Everybody’s got an opinion,” is pure I’m-in-over-my-head stuff. Even the idea of having to go on Jay Leno to rescue yourself from the AIG mess is lame. Be a man, man.

The guy just doesn’t know what to say. He can’t connect. Emotions are here, he’s over there. He can’t get the words to match the situation.

This began, I’d argue, from the first moment. He punted on the inaugural. Everybody ran around like crazy trying to praise it because if Barack Obama couldn’t give a speech then what?

But now, at week 11, we’re face-to-face with the reality, the man can’t talk worth a damn.

This one nails it.
Five Signs of a Flailing Presidency
The White House tries its hand at damage control.
by Fred Barnes

You don’t have to be an old Washington hand to spot the telltale signs of a presidency and an administration in serious trouble. There’s nothing new about these clues. The inability to get their stories straight–that’s a hardy perennial of high-level officials caught in the vise of political embarrassment. A president who skips town to avoid the White House press corps and speak directly to the American people–we’ve sure seen that before. So in a sense the AIG mess has touched off nothing more than business as usual.

What goes on in Washington usually comes across as background noise to the public, but not this time. Bonuses for AIG executives are like the infamous Bridge to Nowhere–an issue that’s broken through outside Washington. And we know it’s become a major political problem for the president because he and his administration act as if it has. Here are five signs of this:

1. His allies are moving to protect the president.

2. The president gets out of town.

3. Top spokesmen dismiss the crisis as a distraction.

4. Administration figures can’t keep their stories straight.

5. The president indulges in hyperbole.

Too Clever by Half
By David Warren

…How to explain this apparent contradiction? I’m afraid it is easy. As I mentioned during the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama was seriously unqualified for the job of president. He had no practical experience in running anything, except political campaigns; but worse, his background was one-dimensional.

All his life, from childhood through university through “community organizing” and Chicago wardheel politics, through Sunday mornings listening to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, to the left side of Democrat caucuses in Springfield and Washington, he has been surrounded almost exclusively by extremely liberal people, and moreover, by people who are quick and clever but intellectually narrow. snip

The video to Iran is the latest catastrophe. Mr. Obama simply does not understand how his “olive branch” will be received, not only by the mullahs in Iran itself, but wherever else on the surface of the planet the United States has enemies. It “reads” — to people who do not share anything like America’s aspirations — as an unambiguous confession of weakness. He has moved the American position towards Iran from offensive to defensive, for no defensible reason.

This one is especially surprising, considering the source.
Despair over financial policy
by Paul Krugman

The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won.

The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank.

snip

This plan will produce big gains for banks that didn’t actually need any help; it will, however, do little to reassure the public about banks that are seriously undercapitalized. And I fear that when the plan fails, as it almost surely will, the administration will have shot its bolt: it won’t be able to come back to Congress for a plan that might actually work.

What an awful mess

The Obama network is even turning on the One.
Obama the candidate vs. Obama the president
U.S. leader finds campaign promises don’t always mesh with reality
Associated Press

President Barack Obama’s optimistic campaign rhetoric has crashed headlong into the stark reality of governing.

In office two months, he has backpedaled on an array of issues, gingerly shifting positions as circumstances dictate while ducking for political cover to avoid undercutting his credibility and authority. That’s happened on the Iraq troop withdrawal timeline, on lobbyists in his administration and on money for lawmakers’ pet projects.

While the article still refers to Obama as a great communicator, they do point out his current failings.
Obama struggles as communicator
By JIM VANDEHEI & MIKE ALLEN

Of all the pitfalls Barack Obama might face in the presidency, here is one not many people predicted: He is struggling as a public communicator.

The sluggish and unsteady response to the uproar over AIG bonuses highlights a larger problem of his White House: Obama’s surprisingly uneven campaign to educate people about the economic crisis and convince Washington and the broader public that he is in command of circumstances.

And for those Obama defenders, who think the bowling joke was no big deal:
Not bowled over by Obama’s Special Olympics joke
By Stacy St. Clair and John McCormick
Despite the president’s apology, athletes and others say they are disappointed with his remark on Jay Leno’s show.