That Obama

It is refreshing to see the President taking responsibility for things that happen on his watch.  I am of course suspicious.  Today we should expect some relatively good news on jobs numbers (mostly due to seasonal hiring) so yesterday may be a lead in to taking credit for today.  Of course January will likely shed jobs and so that's a story for next month.  Just remember jobs got better in December.  That aside, I am happy with the idea that Mr. Obama is willing to say such things.  The larger problem is that all he's done is say things.  And we know that nothing is done without political calculation. 

It's been the Obama Show.  He's the 'Star Power' and someone else does the writing, the sets, the lighting, and the props. He's that blank canvas.  But the star has been dimming.  The canvas too blank.

His campaign was loaded with words whose intentions he has been willing to abandon for convenience.  He is big on committees, panels, and groups whose job it is to 'look into things' and report back him.  He has surrounded himself with so many layers of bureaucracy, just in the White House, that delay is pre-built into every "decision."  It shows a lack of confidence that he needs so many other people to help him make decisions.  Then he lets others do the heavy lifting based on the vague template of an idea about a concept whose construction he has no interest in whatsoever, except when it's time to take credit and get the photo op for the DNC family yearbook.

It all manifests in the detached nature of his comments.  Most of the time (lately) he sounds like a bored announcer at a high school football game whose team has no chance of winning.  "America's ball on the 40, 4th down and too many yards."

Then he goes off to play golf.

I know.  It's supposed to represent his "I am above the fray" attitude.  I am post partisan.  But that's not what this looks like, and it is not what the people want from their president.  They want someone who can make decisions, and stand behind them.  Someone who is willing to stand on conviction.  A man or woman who will not just invoke separation of powers as a political convenience but use it to protect and defend the form and character of promises when congress contradicts them.  He can't just say he's for something, he has to be for something.  He needs to be a leader, not just the guy who tells us what a leader is.

Yesterday he accepted responsibility for the failures related to Flight 253.  He tried to frame the larger conflict in terms that make sense.  He promised to fix the problem then sent a cadre of underlings off to their various departments to do just that.  But this is not the first time he's said the buck stops here.  It is not the first time we have seen political calculation in such context.  Is he now off watching TV or playing basketball, waiting for the Blue Ribbon Committee to report to his staff so they can then tell him what he thinks?  Is he figuring out how to play this to get democrats elected in 2010?  Or is he more worried about the country than his party or his own political backside?

It's hard to tell from here.  So far, I have no reason to believe it's not all a political calculation.  But I can hope for better, and he better deliver.  Failure here will not just cost poll numbers, it will kill innocent Americans on American soil.  And that's something his "predecessor" managed to prevent after 9/11.  Something Mr. Obama cannot lay claim to, even given whatever 'flaws' still exist in the system he inherited.