Obama Stumbles

It is a political commonplace that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. But the sound of Mr Obama's prose has begun to jangle. “Now is the time,” he said lulling his congressional audience, “to act boldly and wisely - to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.” The trouble is that this wasn't the first time that Mr Obama told Americans that “it's time to act”. Nobody doubts that now, in the teeth of the cruellest economic crisis in decades, it is time to act. But the world is still not clear what actions Mr Obama plans to take. What unnerves it even more is that when he has acted, his judgment has not always matched the sturdiness of his campaign rhetoric, let alone its slick, skilful execution. He has been ambushed in traps too often of his own making.

Yesterday Mr Obama was forced to introduce his third nominee for Commerce Secretary, the former Washington Governor Gary Locke, after his two previous candidates dropped out - the first, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, because of an investigation into possible corruption, and the second, Republican Senator Judd Gregg, from New Hampshire, over ideological differences. As for Tom Daschle, the President's nominee for Health Secretary, he had to bow out of a job in the White House to spend more time with his unpaid taxes: it was curious enough to have chosen a candidate with tax difficulties, curiouser still for Mr Obama to have assumed that his nominee's oversight would be brushed aside.

Certainly, these are early days, and in extraordinary times. All administrations take a while to make appointments, and many stumble with the odd nomination along the way. Mr Obama will, for some time yet, be given the benefit of the doubt by the American people. There is no question that he is the Communicator in Chief. But Americans will judge him not only by his words, but also by his executive skill in translating these into swift and effective action.