Angry black guys

There is nothing the Republicans want more than to see Barack foaming at the mouth over the BP oil spill or any other matter of public policy.  White middle class folks fear the image of the angry black male, witness campaign tactics that have been used against every Democratic presidential candidate since Dukakis.  If Obama blows, he blows it.  Since BobOnARoll has been known to lose his cool from time to time, he knows whereof he speaks.  When there are tough challenges to face, raising the emotional temperature is a tactic that usually backfires.

Obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.  Like most presidents, but especially this one in the current fractionated political culture, there is no winning against the political opponents who want to do you in.  It continues to amaze me why intelligent men and women actually run for this office.  OK, OK, there's a cool house and an awesome plane.  But, then.....

BobOnARoll has called out Obama and his team on messaging challenges before, and the oil disaster is another example of failure to communicate.  Barack, you don't have to feel my pain, but, as president, I think the bar is high on the issues of clarity, purpose, urgency, bottom-line objectives, and so forth.  In the current crisis, the government appears to be a helpless observer as BP tries (in vain) to plug the hole.  Maybe it is helpless---and that's our fault (and his).

Have been ridiculed before when I quote passages from Kipling's "If", which, admittedly, is mostly banal, but one passage about "keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...." seems directly relevant here.  Stay cool, act decisively, Mr. President.