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The Unpresidential President

Barack Obama has managed a rare feat: The longer he holds office, the more he diminishes in stature.

BY James W. Ceaser

From charisma to populism—this is the slippery slope down which Barack Obama has been sliding over the past two years. In June 2008, Obama the candidate described his nomination as “the moment when .  .  . our planet began to heal.” In June 2010, Obama the president promised his partisans he would find an “ass to kick.”

With the peculiar magic of his presidential campaign now a faded memory, Obama is shoring up support by the cruder method of divisive appeals. Long before the current (already hugely extended) campaign season began, Obama made it a practice to target opposition symbols (“the insurance industry,” “speculators,” “a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street,” the oil companies), call out and assail individual opponents (Rush Limbaugh, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner), and refer disparagingly to the Tea Party movement and Republicans in general (“this crowd”). More than a half-year before the midterm elections, he tried to revive his electoral base of “young people, African Americans, Latinos, and women” by taking a page from Al Gore’s 2000 campaign and embracing the shop-worn slogan, “I won’t stop fighting for you.”

An ass-thumping president frantically fighting for the little guy—it’s hard to imagine George Washington or Abraham Lincoln choosing to project an image of this kind. Barack Obama has managed a rare feat in American history: The longer he is president, the less presidential he has become. Obama has reversed the usual process of growth and maturation, appearing today far more like a candidate for the presidency—and a very ordinary one at that—than he did during the latter stages of his campaign.

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It may be, however, that Obama has created a box for himself from which he cannot escape. He has so monopolized and personalized the public relations aspect of his office that now only his own voice can speak for the presidency. Profligacy in the use of public access—almost a speech a day—has made indirectness impossible. A president who has become his own chief point man puts at risk an asset that is helpful to his standing and vital for the nation’s political system: the dignity of the presidential office.

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This 5-page article is quite a compendium eye-opener that I hope everyone who voted for or ever considered voting for (count me in the latter category) for the current POTUS.

The ass-kicker POTUS has definitely kicked the biggest ass... the Dem monicker itself... and it is sure to make a real ass-kicking difference in the Fall at the polling stations.

Yep, in many ways, Pres.Clinton and many well-regarded Presidents staunchly guarded the dignitiy of the office of POTUS... and we are indeed seeing Pres.Obama frittering away the luster from the office of the POTUS.  Wait till Thursday until after his appearance on The View, of all places! It's gonna be interesting.