Matthew Continetti 0f The Weekly Standard thinks so, and he explains why in his latest article.
Barack Obama has a communications problem. His reputation for eloquence and argument is highly exaggerated?—?at best. Speech after speech, appearance after appearance, the president has failed to persuade the undecided that his views are correct, much less win over opponents. You can blame partisan polarization, the institutional limitations of the presidency, the diversity of new media, whatever. The truth is, the more Obama talks, the worse he performs.
Consider the president’s economic message. The administration’s failure to reduce unemployment significantly has left Obama struggling to convince the country that, as bad as things are, they could be worse. “A lot of the problems we face right now, like slow job growth and stagnant wages, these were problems that were there even before the recession hit,” he told the National Conference of La Raza last week. “These challenges weren’t caused overnight; they’re not going to be solved overnight.”
Talk about a downer. The president’s excuses, though, have made no difference to the 57 percent of Americans who disapprove of his handling of the economy in the July ABC News/Washington Post poll. Or the 67 percent that say the country is on the wrong track in the July NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Obama can’t change their minds.
The classic example of the president’s failure to sway public opinion remains health care. The Washington Post reports that Obama has delivered 58 speeches on the topic since he became president. An obvious case of diminishing returns: According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Americans oppose the president’s health care overhaul 51 percent to 38 percent.
