TIME's Mark Halperin attempts to diagnose what ails Obama. He does a good job of summarizing the current perception of Obama (which I think is the truth), but Halperin's own perception is somewhat off-base.
First, the general perception:
With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle.I think this is spot on, and I think the perception is reality.
But, then there's what Halperin believes. Namely, that Obama has been too partisan.
But Obama has exacerbated his political problems not just by failing to enact policies that would have actually turned the economy around, but also by authorizing a series of tactical moves intended to demonize Republicans and distract from the problems at hand. He has wasted time lambasting his foes when he should have been putting forth his agenda in a clear, optimistic fashion, defending the benefits of his key decisions during the past two years (health care and the Troubled Asset Relief Program, for example) and explaining what he would do with a re-elected Democratic majority to spur growth.If anything, Obama hasn't been partisan enough. Well, not partisan, but tough - he's been unwilling to take on the Republicans directly, and thus their lies become truth. Death panels comes to mind. Or the "Obama is a socialist" meme. Yes, sometimes the President has to stay above the fray, but sometimes above becomes aloof. And it permits lies to stick.
