PRESIDENT UNDER FIRE – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  Americans usually rally 'round the flag when our armed services go into action, and, indeed, one poll now shows that a majority of Americans now favor the Libya operation, a change from last week.

But enthusiasm is limited, and Obama is being widely criticized across the political spectrum, in large part because of the way he went to war in Libya and his AWOL style of leadership.  Even liberals are exasperated.  Richard Cohen of The Washington Post writes:

The change that Obama promised has settled on us all like an irritating drizzle. His ideas were untested by either age or experience. It is one thing to decry American unilateralism and quite another to await international action when time is of the essence. It is not necessary for America always to lead, but it is sometimes necessary for it to do so — and always necessary for the president to know when that moment has arrived. Obama seems not to know. He often solves problems by ignoring them.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know whether it was appropriate for Obama to go through with his trip to South America, but it sure was symbolic. Here was his country entering yet another military operation, and there was the president in Brazil. The contrast was jarring — as if he was quite literally distancing himself from the consequences of his own policy. The man supposed to be the center of it all was on the periphery.

COMMAND:  Wolf Blitzer of CNN pointed out last night that Obama didn't even make the traditional address to the nation from the Oval Office when ordering American men and women into combat. 

I think it's unlikely, given their self-brainwashing over the decades, but maybe the Dems will grow some appreciation for the decisiveness of George W. Bush, at least in his first term.  Bush was not internationally popular, in part because of the way the international leftist press portrayed him, but he was taken seriously, and feared.  Obama was supposed to lead America out of the wilderness it was never in.  He seems to have lost his Boy Scout compass, and led us into the woods.  Now our president is neither popular nor feared.  His leadership is being ridiculed.  With a lot of guns, and nuclear missiles pointed at us, this is not the guy we need.

March 22, 2011