'Repugnant' White House Headed for One Term

President Obama is turning into such a passive, spineless self-parody that he risks getting the boot in 2012, writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. "It's repugnant," she condemns. Blocked by Republicans at every turn and facing a terrible economy, Obama is turning once again to ... speeches? "How about some action?" asks Dowd. "You know you’re in trouble when Harry Reid says you should be more aggressive."

But the president cannot fight like FDR did because Obama aspires for the social class FDR fought. And he's too much of an elitist to try to be a man of the people. Instead, Obama suffers from "the Speech Illusion"—instead of fighting for what he believes in from the beginning, he waits until the last minute hoping some flowery talk from a Teleprompter will save the day. "The One is dancing on the edge of one term," writes Dowd. "Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for." (More Maureen Dowd stories.)