THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE SEE - AT 10:38 A.M. ET:  The White House can curse Fox News as much as it wants to, but Fox News clearly isn't the problem.  The White House is the problem.  The president seems to be on a perpetual campaign tour.  Governing almost seems boring to him - too much detail, too little time. 

Here we have another example, and with it more damage to the "presidential" part of the president's weakening image.  From The Christian Science Monitor:

President Obama helped raise $600,000 Friday for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s reelection campaign – and it looks as if the governor is going to need it.

Governor Patrick faces an uphill battle in his bid for reelection in 2010, largely due to voters’ perceptions of how he has handled the state’s economy. Recent polls show him trailing his Republican challengers, despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts 3 to 1.

At a fundraising luncheon Friday, the president said, “I want everybody to understand this: What happens in Massachusetts is going to have implications all across the country.”

Mr. Obama, who still enjoys high favorability ratings in Massachusetts, said Washington lawmakers, in particular, will be looking to the Bay State next November.

“Frankly, people on Capitol Hill, they watch the tea leaves,” he said. If they see a governor get tossed out who is implementing universal healthcare and progressive education initiatives, he added, they’ll be less likely to support those initiatives themselves, according to Politico.

COMMENT:  Well, you know, maybe if there was some real leadership from the White House, people wouldn't have to read state-level tea leaves. 

Again, the president sounds like a local politician.  He has not grown into the size of the presidential office.  You cannot be an entertainer/fundraiser and expect, ultimately, to be taken that seriously. 

President Reagan always wore a jacket when he entered the Oval Office, to show his respect for the presidency.  Obama wears Rahm Emanuel.  There is a difference.

October 24, 2009