I DO WISH THE PRESIDENT WOULD DEVELOP A SENSE OF HUMOR – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  We don't have royalty in America, but the president is chief of state, and some presidents have had difficulty matching the personality to the position.

Carter was a small-minded, mean-spirited man who never quite filled the Oval Office.  Clinton, a gifted politician, did fill the Oval Office – with young women. 

Then came The One.  And The One takes criticism very seriously.  Occasionally, he might consider dealing with his critics with some humor, and maintain the dignity of the office.  But he hasn't figured that out, as The Politico reports:

Barack Obama’s tongue-lashing of conservative talk-show titans Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck this week could prove a winner for both sides.

The president gets a boost with his base and may win over some independents by tying his political opponents to two of the nation's most polarizing figures.

But the conservative talkers get presidential confirmation that they're at the center of the political debate — together with a collection of sound bytes that will fuel their shows for days to come.

In an interview that aired on CBS’s "Early Show" Friday, Obama said the rhetoric employed by the chief chatterers of the conservative movement is “troublesome” — and he cast Limbaugh and Beck as demagogues who cash in on the fears of Americans struggling through a rough economy.

Limbaugh fired back in an email to POLITICO, arguing that his ratings are just fine in good time and bad — and accusing Obama of "purposely" governing "against the will of the people."

It's not the first time a president has gone after conservative talk radio; in the days after the Oklahoma City bombing, President Bill Clinton said that "promoters of paranoia" on the airwaves "must know that their bitter words can have consequences."

COMMENT:  Look, both Rush and Glenn can, at times, go over the top.  But both are talented broadcasters who express their views no more vigorously than do some of Mr. Obama's left-wing supporters and media fronts. 

The president has, at times, seemed obsessed with Fox News.  Now, true, presidents before him have also become frustrated by the media.  John F. Kennedy famously cancelled his subscription to the old New York Herald-Tribune, in its day a rival to The New York Times.  But Kennedy, when called upon at a press conference to assess his treatment by the press, quipped, in a takeoff on a cigarette commercial of the time, "I'm reading more and enjoying it less."

Obama might try that approach.  Attempt a little wit.  Can't hurt, might help.  Might also assist in softening the image of his administration as a group of Chicago street pols, previously invested in who gets a traffic light on the corner, who can't stand the national heat. 

But there's a question:  Does the president have a wit, or do demigods leave that quality behind when they ascend to their lofty heights?

April 3, 2010