That seems to be the meme of the week accordingly found on Politico.
Who's afraid of Barack Obama?
The new president spent his first months in office coasting on love and popularity. In his health care speech to Congress Wednesday, he rallied after a rough summer with a new round of tough talk.
But with the moment of truth fast approaching on Capitol Hill for the signature item on his domestic policy, Obama seems to lack one item that most presidents find helpful to have in their White House tool box: Fear.
On the left and on the right, interest groups and members of Congress have been eagerly enjoying the rewards—publicity, negotiating leverage—of challenging the president or dissenting from his policies.
That’s usually a practice presidents try to discourage—especially among members of their own party—by making it clear that the long-term penalty will be greater than any short-term gains.
Amazing, how much a failure the President has been the last few months.
I think what irritates me the most about this meme is how it seeks to tear down the President without any basis in fact.
Every political goal that the President has set out to meet, he's met. Every legislative fight, he's won. Everything he's wanted so far; he has gotten. And he's still the most popular politician in America. Joe Wilson has a genuine fight on his hands now to keep his seat; because he took on Barack Obama.
It's now common knowledge that the President is going to sign a health care bill that will increase acess to millions of Americans something no other President has ever been able to accomplish.
But yet, he's weak.
He's done what no other President has done; but he's weak.
He and his team have pulled this economy back from the brink of a Great Depression; but he's weak.
He worked to fulfill his campaign promises; but since he didn't enact his whole agenda within 9 months; he's weak.
The Republican Party has found no pain in going after him hard; and yet they STILL have not gained in the polls and are basically waiting for him to fail.
Frankly, from the left and the right it seems to me no one knows how to consider Barack Obama. And the media, quite frankly, is looking for him to fail. They're actually surprised at his success given the state of the economy, the fact we're fighting two wars, that he's running his own foreign policy as well as his domestic agenda.
But while his opponents, apparently, find him weak I just have one question.
What fights have they won lately?
UPDATED: To add this video.
I actually think that is one of the main strengths the President has; because politics is a blood sport. And his opponents can't win by making a deal; they win by crushing him. He's not going to stand there and allow that; but by not being the guy who throws the first punch he looks reasonable. And he can give what WAS a partisan speech on Wednesday and have it look bipartisan to the median voter.