Taking the Political Pulse

Here's a posting from mid December by Barry Ritholtz that nails Obama for bad judgement:

The political buzz today is all about the President’s falling approval ratings. He has now fallen faster than President Bush did (prior to 09/11).

The simple solution for the White House: Stop jerking around with Financial Reform. When there is high unemployment, people don’t want to see bailed out bankers making a killing. Fix what was wrong with the system, what led us down the path to disaster.

As noted in these pages back in September, the brain trust around Obama made a terrible tactical error by tackling Health Care before they fixed Wall Street. (See: Tactical Error: Health Care vs Finance Regulatory Reform). The record low approval ratings during his presidency reflect that.

Unless Obama wants to lose one or both Houses in 2010, he best shake things up.

My advice?

Put Paul Volcker in charge of Financial Reform.

The fact that Obama hasn't reacted to the changing perception of him tells me he isn't the gee whiz politico that he was sold as during his campaign. He isn't as committed to the "average man" as his campaign promises would have us believe. He can't be that bright if he can't figure out that he is failing and can't figure out that he needs to change track. I'm deeply disappointed in Obama.