ANGER AT OBAMA BUILDS IN CONGRESS - AT 8:45 A.M. ET: We said at our Angel's corner last week that the preceding week might have been decisive for President Obama.  There seems to be a change in attitude toward him, extending into his own party.  There's a new anger, a feeling that Obama isn't doing the job or getting the results.  Sometimes that anger is directed at a Cabinet officer.  The Washington Post reports:

Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.

We didn't expect to see a lead like that, especially in a liberal newspaper.

Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw nerves of lawmakers flooded with stories of unemployment and economic hardship back home. They also underscored the stiff headwinds that the administration faces as it pushes to enact sweeping changes to the financial regulatory system while also trying to create jobs for ordinary Americans.

President Obama's allies in the Congressional Black Caucus, exasperated by the administration's handling of the economy, unexpectedly blocked one his top priorities, using a legislative maneuver to postpone the approval of financial reform legislation by a key House committee.

Two buildings away, at a session of the Joint Economic Committee, Republicans escalated their attacks on Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, including a call for his resignation.

Politicians study the polls, and the polls for President Obama have been going south.  It is now politically safer to criticize him, although it's often done indirectly.

However, please note that some of the criticism is coming from the left wing of the Democratic Party, which doesn't believe Obama is liberal enough. The problem is, the more Obama tilts in that wing's direction, the less popular he becomes with the great majority of Americans who aren't part of that group.

Obama, skilled at running for president, has been less skilled at handling the politics of the office.  He needs to look at Ronald Reagan, who could inspire his base while keeping a certain distance from it, allowing him to govern from the center right, which was politically defensible.

One great fear:  Obama might try to pacify his party's left by throwing them national-security bones, like going even softer on Iran and pulling back in Afghanistan.  There'd be ecstasy in San Francisco.

November 20, 2009