Richard Cohen agrees on Obama as Jimmy Carter II

I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now; finally, a “mainstream” columnist is picking up on the idea.

Cohen focuses on the two big-ticket ideas of national healthcare and Afghanistan. The nutgraf is at the end:

Unlike Carter, Obama brims with energy and charm. His brilliance is not brittle but supple. Yet, another teachable moment is upon him and he seems lost. The country needs health-care reform and success in Afghanistan, and both efforts are going in the wrong direction. The message needs to be fixed, and so, with some tough introspection, does the man.

Agreed. Agreed. And, again, I saw this as part of his problem more than a year ago.