Obama’s no good very bad week

It’s been a tough cycle for President Barack Obama. His healthcare initiative is stalled, thanks in part to the White House’s muddled leadership.

His supporters want to rally around The Obama Plan, but the truth is there isn’t an Obama Plan to support.

There’s a Pelosi Plan, a still-unwritten Reid Plan, and a constellation of vague policy arguments that add up to a big muddle.

In his press conference this week, Mr. Obama was cool and thoughtful, rather than inspiring. Within 24 hours, Senator Harry Reid had pulled the issue off the agenda until September.

Ouch.

In a rare instance of message-confusion, the President used the same press conference to speak publicly about the “stupid” arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates.

Mr. Obama admitted repeatedly that he didn’t know the facts and then dove smack into the middle of a racial controversy that had been fading.

It may be that the police were stupid in arresting Prof. Gates. It may be that they acted properly and were beyond reproach.

What’s certain is that the President had no idea what he was talking about. Never a good thing for the CiC.

My prediction is that Mr. Obama will still get some kind of healthcare reform in the Fall. Democratic moderates don’t want a crippled leader.

But this week’s fumbles suggest that the White House has a long way to go building the kind of disciplined political juggernaut that George W. Bush wielded during his first term.