Legal Commentary

President Obama In Command

By Big Tent Democrat

This dkos diary has me chuckling because well Tweety had to go a decade ago really. But I also think it really misses something that has happened in President Obama's first month in office - at least imo - he has forged a relationship of trust with the American People. He is a tremendous politician. The cable chatter and the Media chatter do not matter, as his poll results demonstrate.

I think we have to agitate for our views (see Digby, Jane Hamsher and Greenwald all the time), but at this point, President Obama's political fate (and historical fate for that matter) will be completely determined by the efficacy of his policies. Anyone watching his masterful performance today in his presser at the end of the silly "fiscal sensibility" conference could see it - it was President Obama in command. It is how it feels and how I think the American People perceive it.

[More...] It's true that his economic team has been pretty abysmal on the PR front and who knows what they will come up with for the financial crisis (and his stimulus package is clearly inadequate), but when he personally takes the stage, he is in command.

While the sniping and the blind adulation make for interesting discussion topics, the political reality is President Obama is in command now, of public opinion and the public agenda. Whether he succeeds or fails is entirely in his hands.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).