The political blunders of the Obama White House

#2. Installing Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as de facto prime ministers. A common hobby of political commentators over the last year has been to compare Barack Obama to past presidents. At this point, it’s pretty clear who he isn’t like – and that’s Woodrow Wilson (ironic, considering his background is so similar to Wilson’s). During his first year in office, Wilson took an active role in managing the government. He reinstated the practice of delivering the State of the Union in person. He also was a frequent visitor on Capitol Hill, especially when he fought to keep the Senate from gutting his tariff reform.

Obama, on the other hand, has been content to let Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid handle the difficult task of legislating while he hangs back. His lack of involvement in the process has prompted many cries from Democratic legislators that he engage more fully…

Only the President can claim to represent the national interest, and it’s his responsibility to guide Congress in a way that reflects it. Obama has failed to do that. He’s let Congress legislate by its own lights, and the process has not been pretty. We talk about legislative “sausage making,” but this has been sausage making akin to The Jungle. Accordingly, the public has lost confidence in the government to handle the many problems facing the country.