People are noticing how little President Obama seems to enjoy his job.
The president’s two main emotions on display are regret and indignation. He’s either lecturing about the problems facing the country in a slightly patronizing tone or expressing his disgust with someone who won’t take his lesson to heart.
A standard Obama rally goes something like this: A mild joke at the expense of some dignitary present (Congressman Hornswaggle can’t bowl to save his life), a sad story tweaked bordering on bathos (Suzy Creamcheese and her 15 foster children and five shelter dogs are being forced out of their home), the identification of her tormentor (rapacious banks), and finally a promise to seek justice for the afflicted despite the political cost to himself (“It may not be good politics, but it’s the right thing to do.”).
Rather than being energized by trying to solve problems at a level of maximal achievable good, Obama and his team speak to the American people with the enthusiasm of an Army bereavement officer. It is their sad duty to inform you that they must overhaul the health care system.
As Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt wrote, Obama needs to show the American people “he’s happy we hired him” and to ditch the “lugubriousness.”
Part of the funereal vibe may arise from Obama’s self-regarding nature. He never absorbed a crucial bit of wisdom: You can take your job seriously without taking yourself seriously.
Obama is plainly obsessed with the idea of being a transformative figure, and as such, he needs historic circumstances befitting his gifts.
The American people got over the panic of 2008 pretty quickly and have mostly adapted to life in a stagnant economy. They’ve reconciled themselves to a world where terrorists want to kill them. They understand, as they always have, that big institutions don’t always work as they’re supposed to.
Obama’s overlarge agenda still causes some uncertainty and considerable anxiety. But with a nice blend of American cynicism and British-style stoicism, the country is managing to keep calm and carry on through a difficult season.
Americans see this as a time of transition, not transformation — a test of their endurance not of their appetites for upheaval.
This degree of American emotional maturity proves a challenge for the administration. How can you convince people to accept a major departure from the American Way if they’re not running around with their hair on fire?
The desperate spectacle of the president’s effort to impose his health care plan on a defiant electorate and an unwilling Congress shows what a slog the Obama presidency has become.
But there is still another reason for the president to approach his job with such high-minded regret: avoiding blame.
From the first days of the Obama presidency, we hear the same thing repeated over and over: He had no choice.
Obama presents himself so often as a victim of circumstances. He didn’t want to bail out Wall Street, nationalize General Motors, add $2 trillion to the national debt, send two troop surges into Afghanistan, or propose a coercive package of fines and taxes to force people into a new health system. He just had no choice.
The biggest howlers from the Obama presidency have come when we are told that he is a “fierce” defender of the free market or “pro-business” despite policies that suggest he likes heavy regulation and favors businesses that support his agenda but not the ones that don’t.
Almost as absurd have been the assertions that Obama only increased our troop levels in central Asia to 100,000 because his predecessor was even worse than the president knew.
The suggestion is that Obama had no choice but to adopt a statist agenda in spite of his own moderate leanings. He’s a capitalist forced into socialism. He’s a diplomat forced to be a warrior.
While the straw men Obama creates in each speech say he should do nothing, the president says he is compelled to act, even if the only option is unpalatable. It’s a rhetorical trick that helps Obama avoid the label of hard-Left liberal.
But it also helps perpetuate Obama’s image as a gloomy pessimist, a label that may be even more damaging.
He’d do better by owning his agenda and selling it with vigor instead of moping through his term as a victim of fate.
Chris Stirewalt is the political editor of The Washington Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
