The problem for the administration is that all of that, the negative and in most cases false statements by tea partiers, Progressives, Dick Cheney and other Republicans, all of that has been and is being allowed to go on with very little in the way of response by the administration. They are letting all of these people and groups define the President. The simultaneous far right, far left criticisms of the President are pretty funny if you momentarily separate yourself from caring. As an experiment, I invite readers to spend time where I publish my articles at OpEdNews www.opednews.com and read several of the articles about Obama on that site, and then go to Free Republic www.freerepublic.com and read some of what they have to say about Obama. I am not prone to motion sickness, but the competing accusations of Right Wing Crypto-Fascist at OpEdNews and Socialist/Communist at Free Republic have me positively seasick after I did this.
This President and his administration have let other people define him. I think they have started to understand this and with things like taking on the Republican congressional caucus a few weeks ago they are taking some steps to address this but so far it is too little too late. The unanswered attacks have resulted in opinions that are entrenched in the minds of significant numbers of the American people. I might be able to understand this lack of responding to attacks if we had a President who was known for being a poor communicator. This President is one of the best communicators in American Presidential history. I'd put him in the top five for sure. Lincoln is #1 and Barack Obama is not far behind him.
Why have the folks around President Obama had him hanging back and not responding to these accusations? Better yet, why didn't they have him out there proactively defining himself before others had the chance? The administration has to have the President out there talking about what he is doing and why. They have to have him and the Vice President out there responding to critics. Overdoing this is better than not doing enough. The President has to stop letting other people define him if he hopes to have any chance of turning around the situation for the 2010 mid term elections or beyond.
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