There's Nothing There

Obama’s half black; he’s a slick speaker. That delivers in this society. He became a cult figure - coeds swooning in the aisles. Political correctness and a sour economy propelled this guy to the presidency. The swooning coeds voted for him, but so did a lot of very reasonable people. And now? Now they find that they have - right, just another politician. Or worse. Not even that - a void.

We find him almost boring. His presidency represents a distillation of the time-worn ideas of the northeastern liberal aristocracy/media confab - Stalin’s "useful idiots". Obama is nothing more than a cliche’ of all their pathologies.

His speech and demeanor - simply a mask for his lack of substance. Worse, he is petty. Joining for example in the skirmish between race profiler Bates and the law. Or trying to intimidate a news agency. Or just yesterday, telling his money-giver fans that Republicans "just kinda sometimes do what they are told." (Recall Bush ever criticizing Dem’s?)

Some leaders find BO personally engaging, but, they no longer believe what he says. Foreign powers don’t take him seriously. Abroad, there is the same commonsense intuition that most of us have, that something about the president’s talk does not quite seem right. From our neighbor Vic Hansen, "One or two apologies might convey magnanimity; three or more reveal obsequiousness. Apologizing to a cranky neighbor for mowing on a Sunday morning is wise; apologizing to the entire block for an array of past sins does not just ensure ridicule, but could prove downright dangerous."

His performance for example before the UN was an embarrassment. (Our lefty friends would agree with John Bolton's indictment – that this was a post-American speech by a post-American president – but mean it as high praise. Hah!) As one UK observer noted, "He can inspire crowds in Berlin but - sad to say - he also needs to show that he can pack a punch." There has been a growing narrative taking hold about Barack Obama’s presidency in recent weeks: that he is loved by many, but feared by none; that he is full of lofty vision, but is actually achieving nothing. He is the subject of jokes and derision back stage, world politics. As well he should be. He sounds good but carries no heft.

Now, even liberal columnists are sounding increasingly skeptical about the individual they once supported. Witness Richard Cohen in the Wash Post, who wrote that Obama, "inspires a lot of affection but not a lot of awe. It is the later, though, that matters most in international affairs where the greatest and most gut-wrenching tests await Obama." Those who understand the makings of diplomacy understand that the president of the United States needs to show, at least sometimes, that he can inspire fear as well as affection.

Even his strengths have begun to look like weaknesses. His eloquence from a public platform has begun to contrast with his failure to get things done behind the scenes. There is no there there.
BO was greeted like a rock star by the Olympics delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and was a major blow for BO at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance. See what we mean?

Meanwhile, America and its allies are being forced to witness a very public agonizing by Mr Obama and his advisers over his Afghan strategy — six months after it was set.

This has all added to the growing perception that Obama’s soaring rhetoric — which captured the imagination during last year’s election — is simply not enough. It's almost sad to witness the left continue to fish for excuses for behavior which they know in their collective little heart, is not defensible.

Three more years? We are in trouble.

Robert Craven