BP - "Barack's Problem"

Ask almost anyone in the United States today what BP stands for, and they'll quickly answer "the folks who created the oil spill in the Gulf".

That's certainly the high profile, media driven answer.

And BP in that sense certainly deserves the notoriety for their inept handling of the entire catastrophe.

But there is another BP that's equally important right now, and that's the Bully Pulpit.

That special place that goes with the Presidency where a capable leader can influence public policy, public opinion, and public confidence.

A place where a true leader can show real leadership without resorting to memos, directives, decrees, and other subterfuges that are only marginally effective out of the public eye.

The O-man has no Bully Pulpit.

Certainly the office still has the potential, but the man has no capability in that environment.

He's so detached from the overall feeling in the country, so ideologically distant from the center of the nation's psyche, that he can't use the Bully Pulpit because no one believes what he says when it comes to issues facing them in their daily lives.

You don't get Bully Pulpit credibility on being angry about the oil spill when you admit you have never spoken to the CEO of the company that did the spill.

You don't get Bully Pulpit credibility on feeling outraged about fishermen and shrimpers being cost their livelihoods by placing a moratorium on new drilling operations and putting thousands in the petroleum industry in the same markets out of work.

The Bully Pulpit can be highly effective in moving a country through crisis, in motivating people to take real action, in uplifting the national attitude.

John Kennedy used it well during the Cuban missle crisis.

Winston Churchill used it effectively in Britain during World War II.

Lyndon Johnson used it effectively during the civil rights struggle.

And Ronald Reagan used it often and well during the cold war, effectively using it to bring down the Berlin wall, and with it, the Soviet Union.

But without credibility, without empathy with the American people, without some kind of common touch, don't expect much from the O-man.

Because BP, the oil company, is only one of his BP problems.