The Thrill Is Gone:NYT:Obama’s Relationship With America Is Growing Sour

New York Times ^ | June 18, 2010 | Charles M. Blow

[lbryce]

President Obama’s relationship with America, like many a young marriage, is growing sour.

That’s my surmise after reviewing recent polling and watching the carping that followed his Oval Office speech (which I thought was just fine, by the way).

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the magic has drained away. Even among his most ardent supporters, there now exists a certain frustration and disillusionment — not necessarily in the execution of his duties, but in his inability to seize moments, chart a course and navigate the choppy waters of public opinion.

What’s left for many is a big plume of disappointment and sadness lurking just beneath the surface.

Desperate to escape eight-years of an abusive relationship with a reckless cowboy and scared by a calculating John McCain who chose a feckless running mate, America was charmed by Obama’s supernal speeches and inspired by his vision of a happier ever after.

But once the marriage was official, reality set in and Obama tried to lower expectations. Life would not be lit by the soft glow of an eternal sunrise. Change would come slowly; pain would be felt presently; things would get worse before they got better.

In addition, he had to make tough choices (and not always the right ones) to steer us out of our darkest hour and secure a better future. He wasn’t always elegant in method or clear in message, and that allowed the more cynical side of America to find a footing and feed its fear.

This has left many on the left duking it out in a death match of finger-pointing, back-biting and navel-gazing. They have gone from applauding to defending, a turn many secretly resent and increasingly reject.

[NellieMae]

Alfred E. Newman

[Oceander]

Oh dearie! The tingle's gone.

[Billthedrill]

It is telling that Mr. Blow has chided 0bama for not changing but is conveniently vague about which direction he would like to see that change take. It's an accusation as nebulous and semantically worthless as the ones he continues to throw at Bush.

It won't do. 0bama's problem isn't that he is a great man stymied by the iniquities of his predecessor, but that he's an over-hyped, unqualified, incompetent fool, who has surrounded himself with the incompetent, the unqualified, and the over-hyped, especially with regard to their own opinion of themselves. And further, that any guilt for his failure to become "transformative" is due principally to a flock of media enablers such as Mr. Blow, who strain to maintain an image behind which there is not, and never has been, a shred of substance.

[Em and Brets Mum]

Good article.

[lbryce]

Thank you.

[sarasota]

It’s from June.

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

Well with the Midterm elections of Nov. 2010, the full cat is out of the bag. Pretty much the whole country sees that he’s an empty suit who hates America and is trying to chip away at her from within. His only claim to fame is that he is of mixed race and has a good voice and learned to give a good speech.

[snowsislander]

Most of us have long tired of hearing the Kenyan Clown repeating his trademark shtick of how much he hates this country.

The Kenyan usurper also has a remarkable capacity in foreign policy, like President Carter, to choose the wrong side consistently and to generally wreck our international relations. This wanton demolition of generations of diplomatic work has alienated some of his most ardent supporters who actually have a modicum of cognitive functions.

President Palin will have a full plate when it comes to trying to restore what the Kenyan Clown and his circus have so thoroughly damaged.

[ukie55]

It must be bad for the NYT to even admit this.

Maybe that’s a good sign

[Tunehead54]

Exactly. Good take. Thanks. ;-)

[ExiledChicagoan]

My, what an ill-informed nitwit.