The Obama Style

Peggy Noonan argues that by attempting to do everything, the Obama administration runs the risk of accomplishing nothing. She suggests that successful Presidents have focused priorities that can be summarized in a single sentence.

In making that case, she refers to a problem that is related to one that this correspondent has noted in the Obama style. By his incessant presence in press conferences and speeches, the President has seemed to indicate that his personal intervention is necessary to push forward agenda items, both major and minor, on virtually every front.

In that regard, the current President is the exact opposite of his predecessor, who deserved criticism for failure to sell his policies, both with regard to Iraq and domestic concerns, other than during campaigns. However, the Obama strategy of taking personal responsibility for taking the lead role for seemingly his entire agenda spreads the President too thin, and at times his administration has the appearance of a shell lacking sufficient infrastructure to actually accomplish what he is advocating.

That weakness might hearten conservatives, who now sense weakness in the effort to push through the President's hard left agenda. However, it is not good for a country that continues to face serious issues with a President with both wrong solutions and a style that will not suit a position of the magnitude of the Presidency.