Maybe you think the economy is recovering too sluggishly? Don’t blame the president! He didn’t write the stimulus — Congress did. Hate TARP? It was Bush’s policy, the president only continued it. Why did health care drag on for 15 months? The president was letting the process unfold.
George W. Bush led from the front. He enunciated big and often unpopular goals. He forced the pace of action. He put his face on issues from Iraq to Social Security, reform to immigration. If anything went wrong, he found himself alone with all the blame.
Obama leads from the rear. He acts only after the call for action has become a clamor. Accumulating national debt? Let’s hear what the Simpson-Bowles debt commission has to say. Iran moving toward a nuclear bomb? The U.S. is waiting for the UN to agree on a sanctions program. And waiting. And waiting.
