And Meanwhile . . .

Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's because a larger than usual number of unflattering photos of Barack Obama are being published (telling in itself), but I'd say the President is no longer looking like the happy camper who just found out they serve ice cream sundaes at every meal at Camp White House and that he can go for rides on Air Force One whenever he wants.

As time goes by, and the intractability of the world's power brokers morphs into a chronic and personally inescapable burden, presidents do tend to look a little older, a little more tired, like Obama of late. But I see something different surfacing in Obama's face than is usually apparent in American presidents when they're out in the public eye: annoyance.

Here is the take of one terrific observer, Bill Whittle at Eject! Eject! Eject!, on Obama's reaction to his Olympic humiliation:

Barack Obama is not accustomed to getting the kind of faceful of egg he was given at Copenhagen. I had hoped that this would be enough to perhaps persuade him to look at the results rather than the desire, and perhaps conclude that there is almost nothing — not even a really good speech — that can persuade people into acting against their own self interest, and that he might perhaps reflect upon the fact that instead of Oprah and the First Lady, Chicago would have better been served in my friend Scott Ott’s words, by sending “traffic flow specialists, civic engineers, architects, economists… all the experts needed to convince the IOC that Chicago was up for the task.”

In other words, lead instead of cheerlead. But this President seems incapable of doing that. I don’t know how many days he has spent actually behind the desk in the Oval Office as — you know — Chief Executive, but given the number of town halls, events, ceremonies and other on-camera activities I would be willing to bet the number is not large.

Anyway, that was my hope: that humiliation on the cheap might persuade The World’s Smartest Politician to show some intelligence and change his mind based upon the evidence, the way his presecessor, The Greatest Moron in the History of The World, did when confronting a failing strategery in Iraq. That hope lasted for all of a few days. Now we see 150 doctors wearing white lab coats assembled to help Barack Obama give another career-saving speech, this time trying to get the 93% of Americans who are fundamanetally happy with their health care to act against their own self interests.

And by having them wear white lab coats, you see, he is making sure we realize they are doctors. But I remain confused. Couldn’t they also be lab technicians? Perhaps they need to wear that reflector thing on their foreheads. Damn it, no — Dentists wear those too, and no one would be persuaded to give up their current insurance just because a hundred and fifty dentists wearing white lab coats and reflectors nod in agreement. What they should have had was stethoscopes around their necks! That would have gotten this bill passed!

And so it goes. Yet another speech, with props appropriate for a fourth grade show and tell, to sell the rubes on something they seem unwilling to want to buy. And another appeal to oratory in place of substance. And meanwhile, out at the edge of the campfire’s glow, lean and cruel wolves circle red-eyed and hungry, watching and learning. [italics mine]

I confess that I want as many people as possible to read that last brilliant line:

And meanwhile, out at the edge of the campfire’s glow, lean and cruel wolves circle red-eyed and hungry, watching and learning.

Case in point: the photo below shows Barack Obama meeting with leaders and analysts of the National Counter Terrorism Center in McLean, Virginia, yesterday, October 6, 2009. Note the facial expressions.

Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton.

__________