NYC Letter: The Endless Campaign

Day 251 of CHOPE

Remember Mr. Obama's assumption of the presidency? It was heralded as the greatest transition ever? [Pause.] Yeah. Not so much (and this and this and this and, several months later, this, oh, and this). One key transition Mr. Obama has failed to make is that from candidate for president to president.

Even the left has noticed. Below WaPo columnist Richard Cohen bemoans Mr. Obama's endless campaign.

THE CAMPAIGN IS LONG OVER, MR. PRESIDENT

OP-ED September 29, 2009 (IBD) - Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.

Take last week's G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh. There, the candidate-in-full commandeered the television networks and the leaders of Britain and France to give the Iranians a dramatic warning. Yet another of their secret nuclear facilities had been revealed and Obama, as anyone could see, was determined to do something about it — just don't ask what.

... The trouble with Obama is that he gets into the moment and means what he says for that moment only. He meant what he said when he called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" — and now is not necessarily so sure. He meant what he said about the public option in his health care plan — and then again maybe not. He would not prosecute CIA agents for getting rough with detainees — and then again maybe he would.

Most tellingly, he gave Congress an August deadline for passage of health care legislation — "Now, if there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town ... " — and then let it pass. It seemed not to occur to Obama that a deadline comes with a consequence — meet it or else.

Obama lost credibility with his deadline-that-never-was, and now he threatens to lose some more with his posturing toward Iran. He has gotten into a demeaning dialogue with Ahmadinejad, an accomplished liar.

Yes. Well. Mr. Obama is pretty impressed so far.

CHOPE.

More of the campaign the media loved. Check your local listings.