DC Trawler

Obama’s latest political strategy: Claiming to have human emotions

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Ow.

Over the last few years, Obama has been celebrated for his “first-class temperament.” He’s been compared to Mr. Spock, and people actually mean it as a compliment. Putting aside the fact that his calm, his cool, and his collectedness tend to disappear the moment he’s criticized, that is his public image.

Whoops! I mean that was his public image. No more Vulcan around, America. The Hill reports:

President Obama told a small crowd in Fairfax, Va., on Monday that he would stand in the hot sun with them and “feel their pain.”

He was meeting with a Fairfax family for a backyard discussion on the economy in an effort to improve voter perceptions about his empathy with ordinary people…

Voters two years ago appreciated Obama’s cool, professorial demeanor; it earned him praise, as in “No drama Obama,” and drew favorable contrasts with both President George W. Bush and the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

But it is widely perceived as less appealing now, as the administration has struggled to revive the economy and convey an impression of strong management.

Good luck with that. If he feels our pain, why does he keep trying to create more of it?

Jim Treacher