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The economy is in neutral, and it's not showing any signs of moving. The President's domestic agenda is in tatters: between persistently high unemployment, crippling uncertainty on the part of business owners, and steadily-escalating fiscal crises in Blue States there's little appetite for further adventures in big government. Among the big government initiatives that have passed--TARP (admittedly pre-Obama), the 'stimulus,' and Obamacare--the greatest political beneficiaries of the legislation have been the politicians who ran on platforms condemning them. Speaking of elections, despite the President's best efforts Republicans have won key elections in . . . pretty much everywhere except California, which is right now in such bad shape that a 1906-level earthquake might actually improve the situation. Obama's few successes--the tax compromise and elements of the GWOT--are grafted from the GOP, something that the upcoming Republican Speaker of the House will no doubt point out with great vigor over the next two years. The Right despises Obama; the Middle is indifferent to him; and the Left no longer trusts him. And absolutely worst of all, he has to sneak his cigarettes.
If this was a comedy movie from the 1990s, the man would be ripe for a vision quest right now.
You know what I'm talking about, of course: the Simpsons rather brutally parodied the concept, back in the day (and yes, that's really Johnny Cash as the talking coyote). A man--it's almost always a man--is lost in this world, and thus must find himself, or enlightenment, or the path forward; add some regurgitated, half-understood philosophy, a big heap of condescending, exaggerated deference to a culture unlikely to sue, and possibly an amusing scene or three involving illicit soft drug use and you're ready to go. At the end, of course, it is discovered that the one undergoing the quest didn't actually need to do it; the answer was within him all along, only he wasn't ready to face it yet. Or else he had to wait for a convenient redemption episode at the end of the film. Or perhaps a gorilla needed to be involved, although I can't actually find an example of that on YouTube.
Now, one could argue that the preceding paragraph was merely an opportunity to snicker a bit at a President who ran on a campaign of being competent and self-aware, only to demonstrate that he wasn't particularly either--and one would be almost right to do so. The reason that one would be almost right is that, like it or not, there really is a question about what, if anything, motivates President Obama. A recent poll indicated that 40% of the American voting public doubts that the President even believes in American exceptionalism, which is like expressing doubt that the President likes oxygen and food. Even his most loyal supporters are wondering these days what Obama does believe in. One wonders if even he knows.
So... maybe he should have a vision quest. Or pick your favorite metaphor, because one of the most devastating arguments that the Right can and does make about the man is that Obama seems to have gotten to his position largely on autopilot, going for a more important job once he grew bored with any given old one. And now that Obama's at the summit--it doesn't get more powerful than President of the United States of America--he's got nowhere else to go, so the old strategy won't work anymore. Seeing as I live in this country, I would prefer that the President find something that will motivate him to do his job for the next two years.
It's better for the country that way.
After that, we'll replace him. Of course.
