MORE PROOF - AT 8:39 A.M. ET:  That the Obama star is fading.  He visited Michigan yesterday, a state that went solidly for him, and he wasn't greeted like the messiah that he knows he is.  The generally pro-Obama Politico tells the story:

WARREN, Mich. — The state that gave 54 percent of its vote to Barack Obama last November greeted his first return since the election with skepticism, doubt and anxiety about the future.

Obama, accompanied by his campaign manager, David Plouffe, on Air Force One, arrived Tuesday in this Detroit suburb, where one in five residents is unemployed, to face one of the most challenging audiences of his presidency.

Maybe being accompanied by his campaign manager didn't exactly send the right signal.  You know, campaign over, presidency begins.

Obama stepped onto a small stage set up outside the entrance of Macomb Community College, and after receiving a notably lukewarm welcome, he declared, “It’s not the time to shrink from the challenges we face.”

When is it ever that time, Mr. President?

Obama is arguably in the midst of his toughest moment as president. With budget deficits and unemployment rising, criticism of his handling of the economy is mounting, as well. The adoring crowds that greeted him in the early months of his presidency gave way today to an audience that needed convincing.

This is a lot better journalism than some of the stuff I saw on TV last night, with one in-the-clouds reporter assuring the multitudes that Obama would do just as well in Michigan if he ran today. 

Going into the speech, the Detroit News flatly said the Obama administration’s $787 billion stimulus package was not working; the Detroit Free Press criticized his decision to focus his remarks on community colleges, rather than the economy and jobs; and the mayor of Warren went on the radio to rebuke Obama for delivering a speech instead of holding an unscripted town hall, as originally planned.

Welcome to Michigan.

Oh, his theme was actually education:

Obama underscored his higher-education goal: that by 2020, the U.S. will have the largest number of college graduates of any country. His new proposal is “the most significant down payment yet” on achieving that, he said.

Maybe we'd better start focusing on what these college students are being taught...before more billions are flushed down the drain.

Not a good show in Michigan yesterday.

July 15, 2009