Karl Rove writes: “Mr. Obama’s problems are not political management, but policy. They won’t be solved by faux fiscal restraint, mini-ball proposals for the middle class, and angry pretensions to populism.” And they probably won’t be solved by tossing a divisive social issue into the mix and throwing down a challenge on health care that his party’s not prepared to meet. Obama gives speeches like a rock star throws kisses — indiscriminately, with no lasting impact and with no care that further demands might be made on him.

What happens now on health care? He gives Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid a wink and a “no nevermind” so they can go on to something else? Or perhaps he really expects them to keep at it. What happens on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? He gives speeches and tries to force a vote? Or maybe that was the speech, and he expects to get an A for effort. It’s as if no one in the White House ever says, “But Mr. President, people will hold you accountable if you don’t deliver.”

In a sense, Obama, for all the “buck stops here” fluffery, still wears the mantle of a candidate, not a campaigner. Lobbyists run Washington. Earmarks are pervasive. There’s too much partisanship. Did he have another job last year, or was he in charge while all this old-style politics was running unchecked?

There is, moreover, one fundamental problem with his throw-all-the-darts-at-the-board domestic agenda. There isn’t really much of anything that’s going to be a jump-start for job creation. All the itty-bitty recycled job items are unlikely to provide the needed push for employers to resume hiring. And if unemployment remains at historic highs, as the CBO recently predicted, there’ll be no one in sight to blame and no amount of fake populism to disguise the Democrats’ failure to address the most important domestic issue.

In the end, the speeches really don’t matter. Obama, after a year in office, seems not to have grasped this. In many ways he recycled the September health-care speech and his February 2009 “new foundation” speech. But it’s 2010, and now the voters expect results.

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