Believing His Own Press?

James Morrow suggests that Obama's main problem is just trying to do too much at once.

The President needs to focus all his energies on restoring credit flows and national and international confidence in the American economy and its private capital markets. Now is not the time to tackle health care reform or attempt to impose the huge inefficiencies of a carbon cap-and-trade system on the US economy, nevermind the illusory promise of so-called "green jobs".

Obama's sort of stressed out, all over the shop sort of urgency does not inspire the feeling that the US has a confident, inspiring captain at the helm for the difficult times to come.

Instead, it calls to mind thoughts of the stressed-out housewife pleading, "Calgon, take me away!"

I remember him saying during the campaign that the economy meant that some agenda items would have to wait, that naturally there would need to be some programs that would need to be cut for now. What happened to that Obama?

I think both he and the Democratic congress got it into their heads that they have a mandate to clean up every little problem in the first year. I think Rahm Emanuel talked them into "going for the gusto" while they've still got high support and a convenient crisis.

I think they're wrong. They would have been well-served to focus their attention on one or two things, show a good, solid victory, and then move on with even greater support. This approach seems too much like they don't have enough faith in themselves or their ideas. They want to hurry and ram everything through before we can catch on. Sometimes haste means something is important, but far too often in Washington haste just means you've got something to hide.

A slower, more deliberate, more bipartisan approach (don't just blame the GOP for not playing ball, make an actual effort to include them--even Obama supporter Warren Buffet is saying it!) may be more difficult, but it would instill more confidence and show an administration that truly is confident and in control.

Instead we have this chicken little firedrill with the administration running around in every direction throwing buckets of water on everything that moves while very little gets thrown on the actual fire.