I do think that lots of folks try to read more into what he says based on various prejudices, and that’s too bad. People are always saying former Presidents shouldn’t do this or shouldn’t say that, and sometimes they go too far. Much of it boils down to folks interpreting comments that are meant to be explanatory as being too critical. For example, Clinton at one point talked about how he thought that they should have kept the electric car tax credit higher. But his point wasn’t that Obama was wrong on this point or effed it up. His point was that you do what you can with a big bill, and at some point you get what you get. You have to be flexible and make compromises.As Clinton was speaking about this, I was thinking about how important a point it was, and that it was geared towards telling folks not to blame the President for every detail. But I knew that some folks would say that BC was trying to make Obama look bad etc etc.

Obama’s demeanor will evolve as he grows into the job. I agree with Clinton in that one very important job of the President is to to be a source of hope, strength, reassurance, and so on. But it can’t veer too far from reality or folks will reject it as patronizing kindergarten cheerleading.

So far, I think Obama’s demeanor is largely on target. If it has seemed overly sober, well, that makes a lot of sense under the circumstances, right? Everyone’s mileage varies on this stuff. But I for one am not all that interested in following the lead of a smiling moron with a pitcher full of “everything is fine, go to the mall.”