By Peggy Noonan
And the American people want him to fix it.
At a certain point a president must own a presidency. For George W. Bush that point came eight months in when 9/11 happened. From that point on the presidencyall his decisions all the credit and blame for themwas his. The American people didnt hold him responsible for what led up to 9/11 but they held him responsible for everything after it. This is part of the reason the image of him standing on the rubble of the twin towers bullhorn in hand on Sept.14 2001 became an iconic one. It said: Im owning it. Mr. Bush surely knew from the moment he put the bullhorn down that he would be judged on everything that followed. And he has been. Early on the American people rallied to his support but Americans are practical people. They will support a leader when there is trouble but theres an unspoken demand or rather bargain: Were behind you now fix this its yours.
President Obama in office a month longer than Bush was when 9/11 hit now owns his presidency. Does he know it? He too stands on rubble figuratively speakinga collapsed economy high and growing unemployment two wars. Everyone knows what hes standing on. You can almost see the smoke rising around him. Hes got a bullhorn in his hand every day.
Its his now. He gets the credit and the blame. How do we know this? The American people are telling him. You can see it in the polls. Thats what his falling poll numbers are about. Its been almost a year you own this. Fix it.
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The president doesnt seem to like this moment. Who would? He and his men and women have returned to referring to what they inherited. And what they inherited was truly terrible: again a severe economic crisis and two wars. But their recent return to this theme is unbecoming. Worse it is politically unpersuasive. It sounds defensive like a dodge.
The president said last week at a San Francisco fund-raiser that hes busy with a mop cleaning up somebody elses mess and he doesnt enjoy somebody sitting back and saying Youre not holding the mop the right way. Later in New Orleans he groused that reporters are always asking Why havent you solved world hunger yet? His surrogates and aides in appearances and talk shows have taken to remembering sometimes at great length the dire straits we were in when the presidency began.
This is not a sign of confidence. Nor were the presidents comments to a New York fund-raiser this week. Democrats he said to the Democratic audience are an opinionated bunch. They always have a lot of thoughts and views. Republicans on the other handthe other sidearent really big on independent thinking. They just kinda sometimes do what theyre told. Democrats yall thinkin for yourselves. It is never a good sign when the president gets folksy dropping his gs because he is by nature not a folksy g-dropper but a coolly calibrating intellectual who is always trying to guess as most politicians do what normal people think. When Mr. Obama gets folksy he isnt narrowing his distance from his audience but underlining it. He shouldnt do this.
But the statement that Republicans just do what theyre told was like his famous description of unhappy voters as people who cling to guns or religion. (What comes over him at fund-raisers?) Both statements speak of a political misjudgment of his opponents and his situation.They show a misdiagnosis of the opposition that is politically tin-eared. Politicians looking to win dont patronize those theyre trying to win over.
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But the point on the We Inherited a Terrible Situation and Its Not Our Fault argument is again that it is worse than unbecoming. It is unpersuasive.
How do we know this? Through the polls. In all of the major surveys the presidents popularity has gone down the past few months. A Gallup Daily Tracking Poll out this week reported Mr. Obamas job approval dropped nine points during the third quarter of this year that is between July 1 and Sept. 30 when it fell from 62 to 53. It was the biggest such drop Gallup has ever measured for an elected president during the same period of his term. A Fox News poll out Thursday showed support for the presidents policies falling below 50 for the first time. Ominously for him independents are peeling off. In 2006 and 2008 independents looked like Democrats. They were angry and frustrated by the wars they sought to rebuke the Bush White House. Now those independents look like Republicans. They worry about joblessness debts and deficits.
The White House sees the falling support. Thus the reminder: We faced an insuperable challenge were mopping up somebody elses mess.
The Democratic Party too sees the falling support and is misunderstanding it. The great question they debated last week was whether the president is tough enough: Does he come across as too weak? It is true as the clich has it that its helpful for a president to be both revered and feared. But this president is not weak thats not his problem. He willed himself into the presidency with an adroit reading of the lay of the land brought together and dominated all the constituent pieces of victory showed and shows impressive self-discipline seems in general to stick to a course once hes chosen it though arguably especially when hes wrong.
His decision to let Congress write a health-care bill may yield at least the appearance of victory. And if Mr. Obama isnt twisting arms like LBJ and then giving just an extra little jerk to snap the rotator cuff just for fun the case can be made that day by day hes moving the Democrats of Congress in the historic direction he desires. All his adult life hes played the long game which takes patience and skill.
The problem isnt his personality its his policies. His problem isnt what George W. Bush left but what he himself has done. It is a problem of political judgment of putting forward bills that were deeply flawed or off-point.
Bailouts the stimulus package cap-and-trade; turning to health care at the exact moment in history when his countrymen were turning their concerns to the economy joblessness debt and deficitsall of these reflect a misreading of the political terrain. They are matters of political judgment not personality. (Republicans would best heed this as they gear up for 2010: Dont hit him hit his policies. Thats where the break with the people is occurring.)
The result of all this is flagging public support a drop in the polls and independents peeling off.
In this atmosphere with these dynamics Mr. Obamas excuse-begging and defensiveness wont work.
Everyone knows he was handed horror. They want him to fix it.
At some point you own your presidency. At some point its your rubble. At some point the American people tell you its yours. The polls now with the presidential approval numbers going down and the disapproval numbers going up: Thats the American people telling him.
