Is President Obama quietly seething?  Within the space of barely a week his five staged Sunday morning television appearances have failed to stem his declining domestic popularity, while his speech to the United Nations General Assembly has ignited international concerns about his leadership.  What has gone wrong? 

Aiming to restore public faith in his Administration and policies, the President gave interviews to NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Univision (but boycotted the non-fawning FOX).  His approval ratings have now fallen below 50 per cent for the first time, while Congress’s health care bill is now supported by only 41 per cent of Americans.  Both are continuing on a downward trend. 

I wanna be loved...

So what is behind the fall in the President’s star?

Most importantly, Obama appears to have lost control of his domestic agenda.  He continues to claim that the economy is improving at a time when unemployment has risen to 9.6 per cent.  Premature confidence and claims that he has turned things around only serve to make the President look out of touch. 

Despite Obama’s TV appearances, Democratic Senator Max Baucus is now the public face of health care reform.  Americans have come to realize that the President is not directing this show and they are wondering why, especially given all the passion and time he has invested in public events. 

Insiders complain that the President lost interest in cap and trade legislation when the going got tough.  Democrats who supported the House legislation are now facing criticism in their districts for supporting measures that would increase taxes. 

At the same time, Americans are waiting to learn what the President will do to win the war in Afghanistan.  By delaying a decision on the request for 40,000 additional troops, the President looks unsure.  Worse, by leaving this decision in limbo while he heads off to Denmark to lobby for Chicago’s half-hearted bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, he looks like he has his priorities wrong.  This weekend’s revelation that he has spoken to his top General in Afghanistan only once, by secure videolink, in the past 70 days magnifies the impression that he is not managing the issue as a Commander in Chief should. 

It is not just in his own country that the President is looking like a man of words rather than deeds.  At the UN General Assembly last week he said the world must act against the threat of nuclear proliferation and that “we must never allow a single nuclear device to fall into the hands of a violent extremist”.  But he is yet to take any substantive political action against Iran’s nuclear weapons program. 

Incredibly – as was subsequently revealed– news that Iran had another secret nuclear facility was delayed until after the President spoke at the UN so as not to spoil the impact of his speech.  It looks as if the President’s image management took priority over dealing with an international crisis.  This was hardly the way to start a “new chapter of international cooperation”. 

And, as President Sarkozy pointed out, it is fine to dream about a nuclear free world, but the international community has to face the reality that two nations – Iran and North Korea – are close to completing illegal weapons programs. 

Presidential advisers may have discovered that there are limits to Obama’s appeal.  Note to his handlers: media over-saturation and policy contradictions do not inspire confidence.

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