Obama Losing Tenuous Connection With Voters

[From article]
What is happening is that the president is coming across more and more as a trimmer, as an operator who's not operating in good faith. This is hardening positions and leading to increased political bitterness. And it's his fault, too. As an increase in polarization is a bad thing, it's a big fault.
[. . .]
Not ill-advised, devious.
[. . .]
the president wasted history's time. He wasted time that was precious—the debt clock is still ticking!—by following an imaginary bunny that disappeared down a rabbit hole.
[. . .]
All the books written about the creation of economic policy within his administration make clear the president and his aides didn't know it was so bad, didn't understand the depth of the crisis, didn't have a sense of how long it would last.
[. . .]
there always seems a lack of lived experience among them,

http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

Peggy Noonan
Updated March 31, 2012, 12:28 p.m. ET
Not-So-Smooth Operator
Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.
Wall Street Journal