Obama's a Gamer

"It is hard to look good when things around you are going bad. It is harder still when you are the brains and emotional rudder of the enterprise and little seems to be going as planned. It is most difficult of all when devastating failure is imminent."

That's New York Times sportswriter Bill Pennington commenting this morning on NY Giants quarterback Eli Manning, but he could also be describing the plight of President Obama as he faces the 2012 presidential election.

Like Manning, Obama helps his team win, but isn't loudly claiming credit or given his due when he seizes victory from the jaws of defeat. Also like Manning, Obama leads a team (the federal government) that can't get its act together or meet the new challenges it faces.

Despite his team's shortcomings, the President today is often the only guy on the team who seems to have a clue. Like the Giants under Manning's steady leadership, the U.S. government's highlight reel of stellar plays almost exclusively belongs to Obama in an otherwise dreadful performance by a Congress that deserves its 91 percent disapproval rating.

Finally, of late, Obama also deserves credit for making an impact on his own through executive orders that will at least in part address problems that Republicans fail to acknowledge, let alone seek to remedy.

Let's let Giants guard Chris Snee's comments about Manning sum up President Obama's impact on his team: "Because he's not loud or fiery, people think he doesn't lead, but that's just being short-sighted. We get a lot of confidence from him, from knowing that if we give him time to make his reads and see the field, good things will happen. His cool and his calmness -- it has a lot of impact on the whole team."

When you think about it as Pennington has, even when things are going badly, President Obama has made his team look, if not great, at least competitive.


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Location:Maitland FL