No TR: The Limits of Obama's Bully Pulpit
President Barack Obama waves as he arrives to speak about the economy, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Obama's "fair shot" address Tuesday may be remembered as one of his best, a searing and historically poignant account of the greatest challenge of the American experiment: How do we give every citizen, rich or poor, a path to the good life?
But his speech in Osawatomie, Kan., with its echoes of Theodore Roosevelt's appearance in the same city a century ago, also exposed the limits of Obama's presidency and personality. Obama is a man of his times, and this is a lousy time to command what TR called the "bully pulpit."
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