The USA: A Leaderless Nation

A column in the Washington Post looks at Obama's speech yesterday and the man's apparent total disconnect from what's happening to the economy and continued refusal to be a leader. I've said it before, that in 2008 we all were sold a very bogus bill of goods. In the context of the 2011 elections here in Virginia, I very much fear the disgust with a lack of leadership by Democrats in Washington and the White House in particular will lead to a reprise of 2009's electoral disaster. Here are highlights from Dana Milbank's column:

A familiar air of indecision preceded President Obama’s pep talk to the nation. . . . It’s not exactly fair to blame Obama for the rout: Almost certainly, the markets ignored him. And that’s the problem: The most powerful man in the world seems strangely powerless, and irresolute, as larger forces bring down the country and his presidency.

The economy crawls, the credit rating falls, the markets plunge, and a helicopter packed with U.S. special forces goes down in Afghanistan. Two thirds of Americans say the country is on the wrong track (and that was before the market swooned), Obama’s approval rating is 43 percent, and activists on his own side are calling him weak.

Yet Obama plods along, raising gobs of cash for his reelection bid — he was scheduled to speak at two DNC fundraisers Monday night — and varying little the words he reads from the teleprompter. He seemed detached even from those words Monday

In the White House briefing room after Obama’s statement, the press corps grilled Jay Carney about the lack of fire in the belly. “The president said our problems are imminently solvable, and he talked about a renewed sense of urgency,” CBS’s Norah O’Donnell pointed out. “Why not call Congress back to work?” Carney chuckled at this suggestion. “I mean, the Dow dropped below 11,000 — where’s the sense of urgency?” O’Donnell persisted.

NBC’s Chuck Todd was not swayed. “Why not bring Congress back now?” he repeated, pointing out that “the American public seems to be in a little bit of a panic” while Washington says, “We’re going to stand back and wait until school starts.”

“Why?” inquired Politico’s Glenn Thrush. “He’s the leader of the free world. Why isn’t he leading this process?” That is the enduring mystery of Obama’s presidency. He delivered his statement on the economy beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but that was as close as he came to forceful leadership. He looked grim and swallowed hard and frequently as he mixed fatalism (“markets will rise and fall”) with vague, patriotic exhortations (“this is the United States of America”).

“There will always be economic factors that we can’t control,” Obama said. Maybe. But it would be nice if the president gave it a try.