by Johan Goldberg...

In one of my favorite episodes of "Star Trek," Captain Kirk is mistaken for a god by inhabitants of a planet of Native Americans (it's a long story). The illusion works for Kirk until a jealous shaman cuts Kirk's hand, revealing that the divine being is just a man after all. "Behold! A god who bleeds!" the shaman mocks, exposing Kirk as a fraud to the rest of the tribe.

It may sound like a stretch -- and, let's be fair, it is -- but I keep thinking of that episode when I look Barack Obama's poll numbers these days.

He's bleeding on every front. The latest Pew survey shows that only 38 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy. In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, fewer than half of respondents (48 percent) say Obama can be trusted to keep his word. Gallup has his approval rating at a new low of 52 percent, and Rasmussen has it below 50 percent for the first time.

On almost every domestic issue, polls show that support for Obama and his agenda is plummeting, and that the Democratic Party's advantages over Republicans on the economy, taxes, the deficit and health care have been erased or severely reduced.

All presidents go through rough patches, and Obama's no exception. Odds are his poll numbers will get better -- and worse -- in the years to come. All of this is typical.

But this misses a crucial point: Obama isn't supposed to be a typical politician. He was supposed to be The One. He was supposed to change Washington. Transcend race. Fix souls. Bake 12-minute brownies in seven minutes.

Oprah promised Obama would help us "evolve to a higher plane." Deepak Chopra said Obama's presidency represented "a quantum leap in American consciousness." Last month, Newsweek editor Evan Thomas proclaimed that Obama stood "above the country, above -- above the world, he's sort of God."

Well, now he's the god who bleeds, and once you're the god who bleeds, it's hard to get the divinity back in the tube, as it were.

Obama undoubtedly has major accomplishments ahead of him, but in a real way the Obama presidency is over. His messianic hopey-changiness has been exposed for what it was, and what it could only be: a rich cocktail of pie-eyed idealism, campaign sloganeering and profound arrogance.

As president, he's tried to apply the postpartisan gloss of his campaign rhetoric to the hyperpartisan dross of his agenda. And he's fooling fewer people every day.

Indeed, the one unifying theme of his presidency so far has been Obama's relentless campaigning for a job he already has. That makes sense because that's really all Obama knows how to do. He's had no significant experience crafting major legislation. He has next to no experience governing at all.

But he's great at giving speeches, holding town halls and chitchatting with reporters. So that's largely what he does as president. The problem is that campaigning is different than governing. The former requires convincing promises about what you will do; the latter requires convincing arguments for what you are doing. He's good at the former, not so good at the latter. Or as columnist Michael Barone puts it, he's good at aura, bad at argument.

It's revealing that liberals suddenly want Obama to spare the god and use the rod. Specifically, as Dick Polman notes in the Philadelphia Inquirer, they want Obama to channel Lyndon Johnson (whom no one confused for a quantum leap in our consciousness). Liberal historian Doris Kearns Goodwin says she wants BHO to go LBJ: "to take charge, to draw lines, to pressure, to threaten, to cajole." Liberal activist Dean Baker says Obama should "get the list of every hardball nasty political ploy" that Johnson ever deployed.

As Polman rightly notes, this is crazy talk for the simple reason that Obama has nothing like LBJ's experience, skill set, or treasure trove of chits and political IOUs. Obama can no more decide to become LBJ than Carrot Top can decide to become Laurence Olivier.

Now, just as critics predicted, Obama needs on-the-job training to become a president, because he's a god no more.

One thing has become clear to me, there is too much hate in this country.

Aloha

well...I'm not quite sure his poll numbers are going down...no pun intended...lol...because of hate...I think the American people are rejecting his policies...plain and simple...I think there are quite a few people out their...that voted for him...and feel duped...they sure as hell didn't vote for " Knee Cap and Trade "..." Government run Healthcare "..." Nationalizing Banks "..." Taking over the car industry "..." $787 billion spending bill "..." running up more debt the George Washington to George Bush "...not in this country...it's like watching Juan Peron...

Lyndon Johnson had twenty years experience in Congress and was Senate Majority Leader for six years

Obama had less than two years experience in Congress

Obama ain't never gonna be an LBJ

indeed...whoa:

Deepak was talking about our evolving as a nation out of racism...
Obama is not and never was a God, or messiah..
These titles and those who gave them are just plain silly, if you were expecting a God and got a man well..... you deserve to be disappointed.

Speaking of Star Trek.....................

Sarah Palin's recent departure speech left some snickering at its seemingly unfocused delivery. Others felt it was a heartfelt and honest farewell and a legitimate precursor to the 2012 primary. But only one dude was inspired enough to turn the performance into a hipster beat poem. That man was William Shatner.



The actor, writer, singer, and all-around Renaissance man visited the set of "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" on Monday where he delivered his own interpretation of Palin's farewell. Shatner took the stage and sat on his stool. The lights dimmed, and then he recited Palin's speech verbatim while bongo drums echoed from behind. It was a scene, man.



Watch Shatner's Artistic Interpretation of Palin's Speech:
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/shatners-palin-poem-rocks-the-web--496

Who even listens to his unhinged critics anymore. Talk about bleeding...

Funny that all this god and messiah BS didn't work to prevent Obama from becoming president. Sorry Johan, Palin and McCain tried all that messiah crapola, and it didn't work for them either.

I don't know anyone including myself that thought he could save the world, much less save us from our prejudices and hatreds. Sounds like Johan still isn't over it...

Anyone thinking that Obama was a god or some sort of superman is an delusional and needing serious shrinkage.

you mean he can't walk on water?

or turn water into Bud Light?

Well maybe water into Bud light......

Johan Goldberg is just another right wing conservative columnist/writer.

He is just one of many who keep attacking the President on every move he makes.

Many attack just because they hate that he is the President.

They mask their hate for the man by attacking his policies.

Aloha

Absolutely. What else can they do, they can't very well say what they really feel. That might be more honest..

reminds me exactly of the bush bashers the last eight years

same people just different sides

Johan Goldberg has some splinters in the windmills of his mind...

I agree to a point, but even bush wasn't hated for the many reasons that Obama is hated.

not by most

but the ones that are bomb throwing against Obama number about the same. They just sound like more cause they are so loud and vociferous

I don't know about that, seriously. Lately I have been trying to figure out who's who, Obama is dislike for a variety of reasons Bush would never have been disliked for and it's all different groups.

Either way though it's loud and vociferous all right.