Pirate's Cove

Not all. After Mr. Obama’s strange press conference the other day, yammering on about not having a strategy, coming out looking less than presidential in that tan suit, the Washington Post editorial board ripped him up one side and down the other

Obama’s cool head in a crisis — asset or growing liability?

He doesn’t bluster and he doesn’t strut and President Barack Obama certainly isn’t panicking, though he admits it feels like the world is falling apart.

But Obama’s cool-in-a-crisis style and disdain for the impulsive use of military force is fueling criticism of his leadership, as crises stagger the Middle East and Ukraine.

With world crises bursting around him and political opponents apoplectic, Obama has yet to lash out in response, and refuses to act on anyone’s timetable but his own.

His methodical crisis management, long Situation Room seminars and skepticism that US force can remake a tumultuous world, has sustained him through nearly six tough White House years.

With Islamic State radicals dug into a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shadow ever lengthening over Ukraine, Obama is shrugging off a whirl of hostile news cycles and political attacks on his leadership.

He’s cool and calm and oh so awesome, setting the tone. The article eventually gets to a back and forth as to whether this approach makes sense, but people reading already know that Obama is the schizzle.

Obama sets his own pace in a world whirling with crises

…..

As events cascaded, Obama juggled rounds of vacation golf with public statements addressing the conflicts. But his cool demeanor, and the split-screen imagery of a president at play and at work, seemed ill-matched to the moment.

Then came a Thursday news conference and a comment that only reinforced criticism of a president neither fully engaged nor truly leaning into world problems. Speaking of the Islamic State, he said, “We don’t have a strategy yet.”

The statement may have had the virtue of candor, as Obama weighs the military and diplomatic components of a U.S. response and seeks support from other nations. But it hardly projects an image of presidential resolve or decisiveness at a time of international turmoil.

Most of the rest of the article is meant to convey the sense, after highlighting a bit of criticism aimed at poor ol’ Obama, that he’s getting things done and is super awesome and you should worship him and just let him get in some golf.

There are many other examples out there, especially in the blogs, but they are all missing the big point: Obama is not cool and calm in demeanor because he’s cool and calm. He appears cool and calm because he’s detached and disinterested. He so often looks bored giving pronouncements. The cool and calm meme hearkens back to his early days in 2009, as well as during the 2008 campaign season. At this point, we know that he still really doesn’t know what he’s doing, and really doesn’t care that much, simply going through the motions.

Crossed at Right Wing News.