President Obama is “saying all the right words” after the midterm elections, focusing on cooperation and consensus. But step back and “listen to the music,” writes Ben Goddard in the Hill. “Watching the body language of the president and hearing the weariness in his voice, one can’t help but think he is tired, frustrated and becoming a bit disengaged”—and perhaps not planning to run again.
From Obama's point of view, he’s staved off economic disaster, shored up Detroit, and passed major health care reform. Now he seems fed up with the “inability of the media, leaders of his own party and especially the voters to comprehend what he has accomplished in two very difficult years,” Goddard writes. “A man who likes being policy-wonk-in-chief more than playing glad-handing politician might begin to wonder if it were all worth it." It's possible that music we're hearing in his voice might just be a "swan song."
(More President Obama stories.)