Reply #2: The NY Times and WaPo Stories On Afgan Review Suggest Middle Ground

[TomCADem]

I agree that President Obama is not helping pick bombing targets and such, but the stories regarding the Afgan strategy review show that President Obama is pretty involved in big picture issues. He certainly is not President Bush, who appeared to delegate the big pictures issues to his subordinates, and contented himself with an understanding at the soundbite level. (Remember the infamous hot mike at G-8 meeting with Tony Blair?).

I think President Obama pretty clearly sets the strategy and vision. However, I see uneveness among his subordinates in implementing that strategy. Some are better than others. I think this is why you are starting to see shifts like Paul Volcker starting to ride herd on financial regulation.

Finally, as noted in the OP, I think the stories illustrate how useless mainstream media analysis is. Indeed, I would suggest that the corporate media is purposely trying to alienate both liberals and conservatives from President Obama. By comparing President Obama to Bush, the media alienates the left from President Obama, and romanticizes Bush. By comparing President Obama to Carter, the media alienates conservatives and independents from President Obama, and distorts the record of both men.

The bottom line is that President Obama can't be the second coming of both Bush and Carter. They are mutually exclusive.