Obama is going to give yet again another major speech. I have to admit that it was one of the reasons why I couldn't support him: his belief that words could replace deeds and overcome a worrisome lack of experience, which would necessary affect competence. Obama's love for the symbolic reminds of Sarkozy's love for action: they both hide the fact that these lilliputian leaders lack an unshakable ideological backbone and that their election was based on a misunderstanding. The Americans thought that they were getting the Michael Jordan of politics who would fix everything without requiring them to do much more than believe and to hope. The French thought that they were getting Hercules, a fearless and fierce leader who would move mountain and change France without reneging its traditions and transforming into America or Britain. In both cases, the choice was about hop and childlike optimism rather than on reality and the acceptance that politicians are not super-people.
The most disappointing thing about Obama's latest attempt to fix a perception problem with a speech is that he is acknowledging that he is powerless and incapable of taking political risks when he knows that they might improve America, but not his political future. The current BP crisis is not Obama's fault. However, it shows that Obama doesn't deal well with uncertainty and instability especially when he knows that he can't win and that his options are limited. So? Well, the speech is going to be Obama good, but useless. What matters is what Obama believes about America and about himself and whether he has the courage for once to be himself when that self doesn't please the pundits and the ones who just wants him to remain a shallow commercial product that only bugs the usual suspects that is the Tea Partiers and the enamored left (who is going to remain faithful to him as an 'African woman' to use a Fela Kuti's term I despise because it believe that he is the shit, excuse my French).
In short, what is happening now is fluff. I will start paying attention to Obama after the mid-term elections of November to see what he does if his party suffers big losses or whether it is able to avoid the worst.
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