“The president also has to, I think, shift the way in which he has been doing things,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think the American people feel that too many programs have come down. There are so many rocks in our knapsack now that we’re having trouble carrying it.”…

“I think he has lost some of the ability to connect that he had during the campaign,” Powell said. “And it is not just me picking on the President. It’s reflected in the polling. Some of the anxiety and anger that you see out there, I think comes from a belief on the part of the American People, whether it’s correct or incorrect, and the White House would say it’s incorrect, that not enough attention, his singular focus should be on employment.”

Powell said the tea party activists who are driving the opposition against Obama were part of a movement, but they do not yet offer the kind of agenda that makes them a party. They have to offer more than slogans, he said.