Charles M. Blow writes in his New York Times opinion column that President Barack Obama is the one person he never expected to fall into that valley of robotic politics that rouses discomfort among voters.
… It can be found in the "Artificial Intelligence" of Michele Bachmann and her pull-the-string-in-the-middle-of-my-back compulsion to repeat the same red-meat responses no matter the question. It's the Buzz Lightyear-come-to-life bravado of Rick Perry, complete with delusions of grandeur and accomplishment. And it's pretty much everything about the mechanical "I, Republican" Mitt Romney.
But one person I never thought would fall into this valley was Barack Obama, the charismatic candidate who electrified the electorate in 2008 and whom many saw as the fulfillment of the dream of the even-more-electrifying Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yet here Obama is, down in the valley, struggling to connect with the American people and failing, increasingly coming across as dispassionate to some and outright revolting to others.
Of course, Republicans haven't helped. They're absolutely committed to, and obsessed with, his failure. But that cannot be the excuse. Great leadership isn't shaped in the absence of opposition but in the presence of it …
Read Charles Blow's entire column at the New York Times.