WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENT? – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  Once again Toby Harnden of Britain's Telegraph nails Barack Obama and his presidential character. 

This time Harnden, who has done some of the best commentary on American politics, uses the political execution of the White House social secretary, Desiree Rogers, as the launch point for his conclusion:

Bitter and jobless after being replaced by a leading Democratic fundraiser, shunned by Obama's inner circle and the subject of the usual finger-pointing anonymous briefings, Rogers is now fighting back. Her sorry tale says much about how the Obamas have failed to change Washington and how they blame others for their own failings...

...Rogers fell to earth with a crash last November when three gate crashers managed to get into Obama's first state dinner. The Social Secretary, naturally, was not on the gate but inside the event, resplendent in a Comme des Garçons gown.

And...

Then the whispering began. Fellow Obama cronies like Valerie Jarrett - who lives in the same Georgetown apartment block - cut her off. Rogers was told she had to resign. And then news of her resignation was leaked before she could line up another job. All along, White House aides now confide, Rogers was a show horse rather than a work horse, someone who boosted herself at the expense of the First Couple and viewed the Obamas as a business.

As if White House aides don't see him the same way.

The lavish social events that Rogers arranged despite the recession were not only signed off on by the Obamas but were part of their self-conscious attempt to create a new Camelot.

That narcissism has led to an increasingly disconnected presidency. Obama holds campaign-style rallies but he preaches about what he desires rather than listening.

When someone hooted during a recent Obama event in St Louis, the President suggested it was a Republican politician because "they don't like it when we're talking the truth". His opponents are not just wrong - they lie.

Perhaps Mr Obama's biggest political flaw is that he seems to view himself as the personification of virtue and right-thinking. If Americans do not want health care reform, it's because they are too stupid to realise they have been hoodwinked by Republicans.

If he is criticised for throwing lavish parties and portraying himself as a glamourous reincarnation of John F. Kennedy without attending to the details then the person to blame is the Social Secretary. With his polls numbers still sinking, however, the chances of voters blaming someone else for this hubris recede by the day.

COMMENT:  The public is not only starting to blame Obama politically, I'm getting the sense that the American people are starting to dislike him personally.  They're doing what they couldn't do during the campaign – they're seeing through the false charm and shallow intellect.

No, this is not a new Camelot.  There really wasn't an old one in the early sixties either.  It was an invention of Jackie Kennedy, after her husband's assassination. 

But Kennedy and Obama are entirely different.  With all his flaws, and his privileged upbringing, Kennedy had paid some serious dues in the Pacific in World War II.  He stuck around the U.S. Senate long enough to learn the job.  He wrote about, or wrote with others about, great themes.  Obama wrote two books primarily celebrating himself.  Kennedy respected the need for military power and for a strong America.  Obama doesn't seem even to identify with his own country.  Kennedy had the ability to inspire young people well into his presidency.  Obama's inspiration ended the day he was elected.

There'll be a presidential election in two years.  We have work to do.  I want to see a replacement in the Oval Office in January of 2013.

March 14,  2010