Richard Cohen is disappointed. Obama isn’t making use of his “teachable” moments. What—the grand teacher, the magnificent orator, isn’t imparting wisdom to us or convincing us on racial-profiling or health care or much of anything else? Not really. Cohen doesn’t say a lot about the content of Obama’s messages, but he sure has plenty to say about Obama himself—such as “his distinct coolness [and] an above-the-fray mien that does not communicate empathy.” I think he means Obama is a snob.
Cohen can’t quite bring himself to put it in those terms, but he does concede that “the country needs health-care reform and success in Afghanistan, and both efforts are going in the wrong direction. The message needs to be fixed, and so, with some tough introspection, does the man.”
The irony here is great. Obama won an election campaign conducted to a greater degree than any in recent memory based on a cult of personality. John McCain tried to ridicule it, but it remained the central focus of the election. Obama the reformer! Obama the heralder of New Politics! Obama was going to stem the rise of the oceans (or was it part the sea?). Columnists cooed about his temperament. Pundits marveled at his rhetoric. The iconography was creepy and it was omnipresent.
But what happens when the cult ends and the personality at the center of it becomes off-putting? Cohen essentially concedes that Obama has failed to communicate and, moreover, failed to bond with the American people. So now what?
Ironically, conservatives, who were never much enamored with Obama’s frothy rhetoric, didn’t swoon then and don’t put much stock in his charisma-deficit now. They, unlike Obama’s fans, tend to focus on what Obama is selling, not on how he’s selling it. For them it’s about the reality of Obama’s agenda sinking in and not the allure of the man wearing off.
There is a measure of truth to both perceptions. Obama has become ill-tempered and increasingly irritated as his agenda has faltered. His gaffe quotient is going up and is more regularly reported. It turns out he’s not that grand a persuader or explainer after all. But at bottom, he suffers from a disconnect with the public on the merits of his ideas. It seems that the public isn’t up for a leftward lurch.
Obama can try to fix his persona or fix his agenda—or both. But a “sort of God” isn’t inclined, as Cohen hopes, for that tough introspection. As long as Obama is convinced the problem lies with Republicans or cranky citizens or “special interests,” he’s not likely to fix anything.
