The Hill asks the provocative question: “What can Obama say to restore confidence?” (Yes, there is always the LBJ speech.) Some of the answers offered by their commentators are certainly blunt. One physics professor offers this:
I don’t know of anything in Obama’s history, education, or experience that indicates that he knows anything at all about either national security or intelligence. So there is nothing he could say to the American people that would be credible. If he could find someone in his kingdom who does know something, that might be reassuring, but it is a telling fact that I can’t think of such a person.
Yikes. Then there is this one from a professor at the Univeristy of California at Irvine, Peter Navarro: “Obama has two communication problems that make this problematic: He has lost credibility on several other issues, particularly the economy, that he is no longer believable. He is way over-exposed in the media so any new appearance has less communicative value. End result: America is turned off and tuning him out.” Ouch.
Both of these gentlemen are, in essence, suggesting that the cure to what ails Obama cannot be cosmetic or simplistic. It would require more than spin and another round of Sunday talk-show appearances. Presidents do reinvent themselves, make adjustments, and recover their footing, however. Whether the Obami have the self-awareness and humility to do so is the big open question. Michael Barone tactfully recounts that Obama had an overabundance of “self-confidence” after his 2008 victory. (And who would not after toppling the Clintons and winning the presidency?) He observes:
Getting elected president of the United States must be an enormously confidence-building experience: So many people wanted the job, and you got it. Being president can be more chastening when events don’t turn out as you anticipated. The great presidents — Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt — faced events no one expected and in response changed policies and priorities without ever, so far as we know, losing their nerve. Lesser presidents, including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, did so as well. Will Barack Obama?
Well, first, it would require some awareness that there is something amiss. Second, it would require that Obama gain back the attention of voters who have tuned him out. And finally, it would require that he have some improved set of policies or a new national-security vision. I’m not sure any of those are in the cards. Perhaps a jolting midterm election will help.