{"id":8497,"date":"2011-10-11T17:13:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T21:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=8497"},"modified":"2012-06-21T19:36:30","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T23:36:30","slug":"depressed-aimless-obama-walks-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/10\/depressed-aimless-obama-walks-alone.html","title":{"rendered":"Depressed, Aimless Obama walks alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK POST<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Michael Goodwin<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reports are not good, disturbing even. I have heard basically the same story four times in the last 10 days, and the people doing the talking are in New York and Washington and are spread across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

The gist is this: President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.<\/p>\n

Everybody else, including members of his Cabinet, have little face time with him except for brief meetings that serve as photo ops. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner both have complained, according to people who have talked to them, that they are shut out of important decisions.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s workdays are said to end early, often at 4 p.m. He usually has dinner in the family residence with his wife and daughters, then retreats to a private office. One person said he takes a stack of briefing books. Others aren\u2019t sure what he does.<\/p>\n

If the reports are accurate, and I believe they are, they paint a picture of an isolated man trapped in a collapsing presidency. While there is no indication Obama is walking the halls of the White House late at night, talking to the portraits of former presidents, as Richard Nixon did during Watergate, the reports help explain his odd public remarks.<\/p>\n

Obama conceded in one television interview recently that Americans are not \u201cbetter off than they were four years ago\u201d and said in another that the nation had \u201cgotten a little soft.\u201d Both smacked of a man who feels discouraged and alienated and sparked comparisons to Jimmy Carter, never a good sign.<\/p>\n

Blaming the country is political heresy, of course, yet Obama is running out of scapegoats. His allies rarely make affirmative arguments on his behalf anymore, limiting themselves to making excuses for his failure. He and they attack Republicans, George W. Bush, European leaders and Chinese currency manipulation — and that was just last week.<\/p>\n

The blame game isn\u2019t much of a defense for Solyndra and \u201cFast and Furious,\u201d the emerging twin scandals that paint a picture of incompetence at best.<\/p>\n

Obama himself is spending his public time pushing a $450 billion \u201cjobs\u201d bill — really another stimulus in disguise — that even Senate Democrats won\u2019t support. He grimly flogged it repeatedly at his Thursday press conference, even though snowballs in hell have a better chance of survival.<\/p>\n

If he cracked a single smile at the hour-plus event, I missed it. He seems happy only on the campaign trail, where the adoration of the crowd lifts his spirits.<\/p>\n

For the rest of the story…Read more:\u00a0http:\/\/www.nypost.com\/p\/news\/local\/aimless_obama_walks_alone_OUgoMTkORRJioLl7B6ZYmN#ixzz1aVbhkdCp<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK POST by Michael Goodwin The reports are not good, disturbing even. I have heard basically the same story four times in the last 10 days, and the people doing the talking are in New York and Washington and are spread across the political spectrum. The gist is this: President Obama has become a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[701,704,223,1121,174,1430,35,678,806],"tags":[5398,3111,1269,277,3110,3223,798,3222,3226,3225,1200,3227,2803,3228,1119,2287,2719,2932],"class_list":["post-8497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats","category-economics","category-economy","category-failed-policies","category-jobs","category-news-2","category-obama","category-presidential-candidates","category-warning","tag-executive-privilege","tag-50-jews-abandon-obama","tag-atf-fast-and-furious-and-project-gunrunner","tag-attorney-general-eric-holder","tag-blacks-leave-obama","tag-fast-and-furious","tag-fox-news","tag-holder-fastfurious","tag-obama-aimless","tag-obama-depressed","tag-obama-deranged","tag-obama-lone-wolf","tag-obama-low-poll-numbers","tag-obamas-collapsing-presidency","tag-obamas-recession","tag-obamanomics-fail","tag-sean-hannity","tag-solyndra"],"yoast_head":"\nDepressed, Aimless Obama walks alone - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/10\/depressed-aimless-obama-walks-alone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Depressed, Aimless Obama walks alone - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NEW YORK POST by Michael Goodwin The reports are not good, disturbing even. 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