President Barack Obama portrays himself as a hard worker who constantly rolls up his sleeves to help Americans amid the economic recession.
But he’s spending more of his energy and time running for re-election than he’s devoting to the ordinary tasks of pushing back special interests that profitably clog government, curb personal freedom and constrict entrepreneurship. (RELATED: Full coverage of Barack Obama)
Out on the stump, he’s animated, active and energetic. That’s where his extraordinary talents as a political campaigner show up on TV.
It’s a different story inside Washington, however, where he’s largely absent from the day-to-day tasks of bipartisan deal-making, bureaucratic decision-making and ideological self-control that could ease a national economic recovery.
Obama’s preference for campaigning over governing was made clear on Jan. 12 when he fidgeted, daydreamed, twiddled and squirmed for much of the 83 minutes that he spent listening to executives and investors talking about their work on his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.