This is not good for BO when Newsweek runs an article like this.  This 
could become the fastest case of buyer's remorse in modern times.


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http://www.newsweek.com/id/188565/output/print

A Turning Tide?
Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is 
beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes. 


Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 10, 2009 | Updated: 8:37  a.m. ET Mar 10, 2009
Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in 
one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in 
politics, but perhaps not now, not in a once-in-a-century economic 
crisis.

Swimming in the middle, he's denounced as a socialist by conservatives, 
criticized as a polite accommodationist by government-is-the-answer 
liberals, and increasingly, dismissed as being in over his head by 
technocrats.

Luckily for Obama, the public still likes and trusts him, at least 
judging by the latest polls, including NEWSWEEK's. But, in ways both 
large and small, what's left of the American establishment is taking his 
measure and, with surprising swiftness, they are finding him lacking.

They have some reasons to be concerned. I trace them to a central trait 
of the president's character: he's not really an in-your-face guy. By 
recent standards—and that includes Bill Clinton as well as George 
Bush—Obama for the most part is seeking to govern from the left, looking 
to solidify and rely on his own party more than woo Republicans. And yet 
he is by temperament judicious, even judicial. He'd have made a fine 
judge. But we don't need a judge. We need a blunt-spoken coach.

Obama may be mistaking motion for progress, calling signals for a game 
plan. A busy, industrious overachiever, he likes to check off boxes on a 
long to-do list. A genial, amenable guy, he likes to appeal to every 
constituency, or at least not write off any. A beau ideal of Harvard 
Law, he can't wait to tackle extra-credit answers on the exam.

But there is only one question on this great test of American fate: can 
he lead us away from plunging into another Depression?

If the establishment still has power, it is a three-sided force, 
churning from inside the Beltway, from Manhattan-based media and from 
what remains of corporate America. Much of what they are saying is 
contradictory, but all of it is focused on the president: 

The $787 billion stimulus, gargantuan as it was, was in fact too small 
and not aimed clearly enough at only immediate job-creation. 

The $275 billion home-mortgage-refinancing plan, assembled by Treasury 
Secretary Tim Geithner, is too complex and indirect. 

The president gave up the moral high ground on spending not so much with 
the "stim" but with the $400 billion supplemental spending bill, larded 
as it was with 9,000 earmarks. 

The administration is throwing good money after bad in at least two 
cases—the sinkhole that is Citigroup (there are many healthy banks) and 
General Motors (they deserve what they get). 

The failure to call for genuine sacrifice on the part of all Americans, 
despite the rhetorical claim that everyone would have to "give up" 
something. 

A willingness to give too much leeway to Congress to handle crucial 
details, from the stim to the vague promise to "reform" medical care 
without stating what costs could be cut. 

A 2010 budget that tries to do far too much, with way too rosy 
predictions on future revenues and growth of the economy. This led those 
who fear we are about to go over Niagara Falls to deride Obama as a 
paddler who'd rather redesign the canoe. 

A treasury secretary who has been ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live" and 
compared to Doogie Howser, Barney Fife and Macaulay Culkin in "Home 
Alone"—and those are the nice ones. 

A seeming paralysis in the face of the banking crisis: unwilling to 
nationalize banks, yet unable to figure out how to handle toxic assets 
in another way—by, say, setting up a "bad bank" catch basin. 

A seeming reluctance to seek punishing prosecutions of the malefactors 
of the last 15 years—and even considering a plea bargain for Bernie 
Madoff, the poster thief who stole from charities and Nobel laureates 
and all the grandparents of Boca. Yes, prosecutors are in charge, but 
the president is entitled—some would say required—to demand harsh 
justice. 

The president, known for his eloquence and attention to detail, 
seemingly unwilling or unable to patiently, carefully explain how the 
world works—or more important, how it failed. Using FDR's fireside chats 
as a model, Obama needs to explain the banking system in laymen's terms. 
An ongoing seminar would be great. 

Obama is no socialist, but critics argue that now is not the time for 
costly, upfront spending on social engineering in health care, energy or 
education. 

Other than all that, in the eyes of the big shots, he is doing fine. The 
American people remain on his side, but he has to be careful that the 
gathering judgment of the Bigs doesn't trickle down to the rest of us. 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Stop the Democrat party oil embargo ....


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