Obama "has failed the authenticity test"

That's no teabagger saying that. It's from the NYT op-eds page.

And, no, it's not Brooks or Douthat.

It's a straightforward, insightful, garden-variety liberal, Ed Cohen, who thusly opines.

He makes that comment in comparison to the newly-elected David Cameron in the UK as well as the just-departing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, in noting both those leaders also have/had a "narrative" that Obama doesn't.

And, it's not just on domestic policy, Cohen says:
Obama is confronting an international conviction that he’s hesitant. The agonizing review that led to the Afghan surge left an impression of uncertainty. In the end we got what some have called the Groucho Marx Hello, I Must be Going! plan, a brief reinforcement to be reversed in time for the 2012 campaign.
So, whenever I get frustrated at the MSM, I sometimes get some hope restored with a column like this. It's a good insight.