Peggy Noonan: He Was Supposed to Be Competent - WSJ.com

Who, in their right mind, looked at Obama as a candidate, looked at his private and public experience, truly listened to his speeches and – by any stretch of imagination – saw a competent man??  This nation knew, in their heart of hearts, that he was a joke.  They voted for “hope and change” only to discover that age old truth – there is no hope.  The man can either do the job or not.

 

Peggy Noonan: He Was Supposed to Be Competent - WSJ.com

The spill is a disaster for the president and his political philosophy.

I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.

There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this.