In a few minutes, Obama will be addressing Congress with a Hail Mary speech designed to put the health care train back on the tracks.  It’s a tremendous task.  One that, considering his astonishing leadership failures of the last two months, seems nigh on impossible.

Can he do it?

Doubtful.  For Obama, July and August were among the worst two months any President has had to weather.  He took PR hit after PR hit, made bad choice after bad choice, spoke when he should have piped down, and remained silent at the exact moments he needed to speak up.  Nixon and Carter knew what the subsequent public opinion beating must have felt like.  Likewise, Clinton and Bush faced similar periods in their presidencies.  Unfortunately for the current administration, all four managed to handle their respective train wrecks better that Barack.

Obama’s problem is that for all his oratory skill, for all his much-ballyhooed charisma, charm, and personality, he is an utter mess without an enemy.  During the campaign, he could lash out against Bush and, to a lesser degree, McCain.  After his election, he successfully managed to keep the “It’s Bush’s Fault” mantra alive…at least until sometime in April.  Then, the wheels started falling off.

By the end of the summer, the problems faced by the United States were his.  The blame game had stopped working.  People had grown sick and tired of hearing the “George Bush Excuse.”   The President made a series of gaffes, perhaps most notably the ridiculous Beer Summit and his foolish accusations that preceded it.  Two wars that, at the end of the previous administration had (despite their unpopular status) been going pretty well have started to revert back to their more difficult days.  Even Cindy Sheehan turned up to lay the responsibility directly at Obama’s door.  That the door in question was attached to thirty million dollar mansion didn’t help.

Then we had the Van Jones debacle.

Still, it could be maintained that all of this would have done little damage if the President still had an enemy to attack.  Someone he could deflect to.  A person, a group, or a thing to distract the American people from his errors.  There was only one problem.  He didn’t come up with one.

Yes, the DNC tried to paint the town hall protesters as an evil mob.  Yes, they raised the specter of Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.  What happened?  The protesters proved to be part of the majority, and the Glenn Beck show cost Van Jones his job.

Now, the enemy is another mob: congressional Democrats.  Never forget that if the DNC had the votes, we’d already have a national health care system.  Republicans are, for all intents and purposes, powerless.  The President’s own party has derailed his plans, and presented him with no where else to shift the blame.

So now, it all comes down to one speech.  The administration claims it will have “All the answers.” 

Let’s get this straight.  He has answers that, for some reason, he decided not to mention in the previous hundred health care speeches?

Answers that will change this disasterous situation in the House Of Representatives?

Highly, highly, doubtful.

- Robert Laurie