Does Obama Deserve More Credit?

Opinion

On his way out the door at Newsweek, after more than 30 years, to his new home at the Huffington Post, Howard Fineman wrote an assessment of President Obama, describing him as "the plodding 'national incident commander' for our beleaguered era" and as "just a smart but cautious guy who succeeds by dogged effort and not by eloquence (he really isn't very eloquent) or by grand gesture."

He gives Mr. Obama credit for dealing with a difficult situation that "would have been worse had it not been for his bailing of water," and noted that it's tough to get credit for not making things worse. "It's a hard message to sell in the midst of 9.5 percent unemployment, when dollar discount stores are all the rage, and the gap between the rich and everyone else in the country is as wide as it has been since the Progressive Era," Fineman wrote.

Fineman's assessment rings true. Mr. Obama doesn't walk on water and he has been criticized for being unable to make the easy connection of his predecessors with the middle class he aims to please or the upper class and Wall Street who he wants to tax more and reform. 

He has taken on an expansive, complex, expensive agenda to rebuild American institutions and exit war zones amidst an acrimonious, partisan time in American politics and pivot point between age of printed newspapers and Twitter.

Bob Woodward's forthcoming book, "Obama's Wars," gives a detailed view into Mr. Obama's presidency, describing him as "professorial," assigning homework to staff as he was resisting attempts by his military advisors to accept their recommendations for the Afghan war before he felt comfortable.

To avoid that blowout, voters will have to believe that job growth will happen sooner than later and that the economy will continue its slow rise from the ashes.

Thursday, the Labor Department said that jobless claims rose by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 465,000, suggesting that the job market is not responding as quickly to various economic stimuli. In an interview Thursday with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said,  "They're [businesses] not hiring fast enough to bring down the unemployment rate, and that's our major challenge. Our major challenge is to make sure that we work with Congress to do more to help businesses bring more Americans back to work more quickly," Geithner said.

On Thursday, the House joined the Senate in passing a bill that will provide a $30 billion loan fund and tax incentives aimed at stimulating hiring in small businesses.

"This country absolutely will get back to the point where most Americans who want a job are gonna be able to find a job," Geithner told Couric.

That's a safe prediction -- the question is when, and will it be in time to make the economy less of a burden for the Democrats in the 2012 races.