When You've Lost Ruth Marcus ...

Ruth is a lefty pundit with whom, I must confess, I am not familiar. I came across this excellent column of hers in a link on RCP this morning where she calls this administration the "Where's Waldo?" presidency. Here's a nice snippet.

Obama performs best on a stage that permits the grandest sweep. He rises to the big occasion, from his inspiring introduction to the public in his 2004 Democratic convention speech to his healing words in the aftermath of the Tucson shootings.

The president has faltered, though, when called on to translate that rhetoric to more granular levels of specificity: What change, exactly, does he want people to believe in? How, even more exactly, does he propose to get there? "Winning the future" doesn't quite do it.

Ruth has got the guy dialed in pretty well. She lists many of his equivocations and failures to lead and is seeing a very disturbing pattern. Unfortunately for all of us, she's not likely to see a change over the next two years. The dude is a progressive academic, not a leader. He'll be big on stroking his chin and lecturing to us in a superior, patronizing tone, but leading, not so much.

Buckle up, Ruth. It's going to be quite a ride for you. Mostly downhill.