"These are the times that try men's souls"

I haven't taken a close look at his O ness lately, but I suspect that he has a lot more gray hairs on his head, and those lines in his face are getting deeper. Being a president of these divided states will do that to you. I wonder if he knew what he was getting himself into?

The glitz and glory of his historic achievement has worn off, and now all the problems that comes with being the most powerful man on earth are front and center on his doorstep.

Pick one: Ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Two wars raging against....hell I don't even know who we are fighting. I guess it's al Qaeda. The North and South Koreans are about to throw down. The Iranians are about to go radioactive. The Middle East, once again, is a powder keg of volatility. Here at home the Dow is tanking, (I think it dropped below 9,000.00 on Friday)the unemployment numbers aren't moving, and the right wingnuts are having fifties flash backs. And now, to add insult to injury, it looks like some of his loyal constituents on the left are abandoning him.

" Bemoaning Obama's passivity after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the director Spike Lee thundered: "He's very calm, cool, collected. But, one time, go off! If there's any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster."

This is the same Spike Lee who once described Obama's election as a "seismic" change that represented "a better day not only for the United States but for the world".
The ladies of The View, the liberal-dominated morning talk show moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, spent a lot of time last week sympathising with Mrs Obama about how difficult it must be to argue with a husband who never shows any fire or emotion.

Even the liberal chattering classes are deserting Obama. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times jeered that his "Yes we can" slogan had been downgraded to "Will we ever?", while fellow columnist Frank Rich blasted his "recurrent tardiness in defining exactly what he wants done".

Now, to be fair, those quotes were from the conservative British Newspaper, The Telegraph . But there is something to what that author is saying in his article. The natives are getting restless. O is no longer getting the benefit of the doubt-- but this is what happens when you follow the frat boy into the batters box.

Having said all of that; is there a sane person in A-merry-ca who doesn't remember how cozy the frat boy and his side kick were with the oil industry? Remember all those meetings? As we watch images of those dead birds, let's not forget how we got here. Yes, his O ness is a little slow on the take with this mess, but there wouldn't have been any mess with a little more regulation. But you know how the big business folks are, always trying to save a buck. And if they can get the government to be complicit with them, all the better. But I seriously digress, back to O.

So as he looks forward to 2012, I wonder if his O ness will want to put himself through this? He has already secured his legacy in A-merry-can history, and he can ride off into the sunset and make millions speaking and writing books while he watches his two beautiful daughters grow up.

I am asking the question, but I already know the answer: he will run.

I know one thing, if it wasn't for black folks and other minorities he would be toast. Folks in the majority population are running away from him faster that Usain Bolt. Some will come back by election time, and some won't. It will be interesting to see if it will be enough to get him over the top again, and if he can catch lightening in a bottle one more time. Sadly, if he keeps getting the kind of advice that he has been from his inner circle, it won't be.

"The young Texans who seemed genetically incapable of viewing any criticism of George W Bush as less than treason may have gone but a similar cult has replaced them. The Obamatrons who now populate Washington have iPads under their arms and greet each other with fist bumps. Earnest, geeky types, they look upon anyone who does not worship Obama with pity – such a being must be too stupid or bigoted to know better.

Obama has never been wracked by self-doubt and he is unusually self-contained for a politician. He seems not to need people or reassurance. In office, this is dangerous – he sometimes seems to be living in a cocoon."

I think I have heard that before. But the last guy in the "cocoon" actually enjoyed being in there, and, sadly, this is the result.