Obama's current troubles may also be related to the way in which he perceives and executes his role as President. The somewhat ambiguous nature of executive power as defined by the US Constitution has historically presented the President with unique challenges. On the one hand, the President should promote policies that he judges to be in the best interest of the country, and thereby act as a bulwark against the shifting popular passions that often influence Congress. On the other hand, he must have the instincts to judge when a policy is politically unacceptable to the people. 

Obama's lack of executive or even managerial experience did not prepare him well for this balancing act. "My essays examining Obama's rise to power chronicle a fall foretold," Fouad Ajami contended. "He had no real governing experience, and his plans relied on the supposition that his policies would succeed because he, the Saviour, was the one who proposed them. So the destination was always going to be disappointment." 

From the stimulus package to the healthcare Bill, Obama has allowed his signature domestic initiatives to be authored and largely controlled by the ultra-partisan Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In light of the fact that Congress was even less popular than George W. Bush at the time of Obama's Inauguration, it is unclear why the President thought it wise to put his domestic agenda in their hands. "Maybe it's because he was a legislator and had so little experience running anything, but he has left far too much up to Congress," said Kenneth Weinstein.

Has the great communicator lost his touch? 

Obama has thrown all of his political weight behind a final push to win over House Democrats who previously voted against the Bill, with Nancy Pelosi engaging in a strong-arm campaign of such intensity that some suggest it may permanently isolate moderate Democrats in Congress. There has even been some speculation that Senator Evan Bayh's withdrawal from the Indiana Democratic primary was not only a repudiation of the party's leadership but also a signal that he may challenge Obama in the Democratic primaries for the 2012 Presidential election. 

In times of populist ferment, the President's best asset is his ability to appeal directly to the American people. Yet many speculate that Obama has lost his coveted connection with the electorate. "He comes across as a lecturing professor," remarked Matthew Continetti. This tendency was certainly evident during his State of the Union speech, in which he attributed public opposition to the healthcare Bill to his failure to "explain it" sufficiently. "That speech was Obama at his worst — platitudinous and condescending," said Continetti. "And people are getting really tired of this monarchical style he has cultivated."

If there's anyone Americans like less than a monarch, it's a lawyer. And if there's anyone Americans like less than a lawyer, it's a terrorist. That said, the legalistic approach the administration has taken to terrorism was never likely to impress voters. From the seemingly arbitrary decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal court (despite the continued and legal use of military tribunals), to the bungled arrest and interrogation of the alleged Detroit plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the administration has managed to appear both obsessed with procedure and ignorant of the law in matters of national security.