Is this self-aware, wise, charming?
Perhaps four years ago I would have said yes. But this time around, not so much. First, it betrays a detachment from the moment that isn't encouraging: why would you mention a campaign operative and discuss process issues in a stump speech? Second and more significantly, whereas four years ago that "it's not me, it's you" trope seemed like a new way of doing politics, this time it only reminds us of Obama's passiveness as an executive - his reluctance to forcefully shape events, rather than respond to them. And of his failure, in this campaign, to really convince people that he knows why he wants another four years, or rather, that he knows what he wants them for.
I do understand what he's getting at here and it's quite interesting. Still, I want to grab him and say, "You're not a prop. You're the president." But then I suppose the secret service might have an issue with that.
Comments