OBAMA'S DIVE CONTINUES – AT 9:11 A.M. ET:   Amidst the Libya crisis, the Japanese quake, and America's budget dilemma, there is much buzz in the press and across the internet about President Obama's lack of leadership, and, at times, seeming lack of interest.  Obama's reported comment that it would be easier to be president of China has gotten widespread notice, none of it positive.

Fox News sums up the image problem, which, in our view here, is an accurate reflection of the real problem, Barack Obama:

A conflict approaching civil war in Libya. An end-times tsunami in Japan. A Congress that can't reach a budget.
And ... gender inequality?

The topic of President Obama's weekend radio address has raised some eyebrows, as Obama has met mounting crises with the same restraint and cool that characterized his slow-and-steady campaign for president. To some critics, the tone set by the White House in light of recent upheaval may hurt the president's public image.

Amid chaos around the world and on Capitol Hill, Obama's Saturday radio address was devoted to Women's History Month and a call to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a proposal meant to address the income gap between men and women. Then, the president went golfing at Andrews Air Force Base.

"I don't know if they don't realize the disconnect and maybe they don't care ... but it does matter," Dana Perino, former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, told Fox News.

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said that he doesn't "begrudge" the president for taking time out for recreation, but Libya and the budget in particular demand more involvement on Obama's part.

COMMENT:  The old expression applies:  Timing is everything.  Gender equality is a perfectly reasonable subject for a president, but not this week.  The president's radio address did indeed anger many observers.  It seemed like a throwback to the sixties, and a transparent attempt to shore up his base...at a time of major crisis.

Even Chris Matthews, normally an Obama partisan, who once spoke of feeling a tingle going up his leg (or down, I don't recall which) when Obama spoke, now compares Obama to Carter, and it wasn't meant as a compliment.

Niall Ferguson, the Harvard scholar who's emerged as a sane academic commentator on current affairs, has, somewhat angrily, called on Obama to at least give strong moral support to the Arab revolts. 

And even Democrats, like Senators Dianne Feinstein and Joe Manchin, are expressing frustration with the disappearing act in the White House.

And get this, from The Politico: 

PRESIDENT OBAMA is taping his NCAA picks today, and they’ll be revealed tomorrow on ESPN.

Nothing like a good set of priorities.

Further...stand by for poll numbers from Rasmussen, out shortly.  Advance word is that they're devastating.

March 15, 2011