How did America grade Obama at the Summit? It did not like what it saw.It is becoming obvious that in Obama, we do not have a national leader.

What we have, here, is the first day of reporting with regard to the "enthusiasm" index for and against Mr. Obama's job performance. Currently, the single factor effecting his performance numbers is the Summit, of course. On the day of the Summit (Thursday the 25th), this Index stood at a -16. The following day, before any polling results, his Index numbers came in at a -15.


And then came today - the first day results could be reported - his "passion index" fell to a record -21.

What does this mean?

What we have, here (if this reporting represents a "trend" - one day of reporting is not a trend ) , is a first response to Obama's performance during the Health Care Summit - he stunk up the place.

We saw a GOP leadership that was well prepared, well spoken, respectful, persistent and -- at the right times -- effectively critical. CNN's David Gergen, an Obama supporter, told that network's viewers the GOP "had its best day in years."

An incomplete "minute count" gave 233 minutes to the Dems including 120 minutes for Obama versus 114 minutes allowed to the Republicans -- a pathetic performance if one grades simply on the basis of fairness and bipartisan participation. Understand that Obama controlled the flow of this Summit.

The Nation saw an Obama not prepared with the facts, corrected on several occasions by both GOP participants and members of his own staff. They say nearly 7 hours of an angry chairman, dismissive of his opposition, a man who failed in his stated effort of bring all views together.

Obama's position? "Here is our (2400 page) proposal. We will let you amend it but we will not allow you criticize it -- take it or leave it."

The Republican position? "Let's pass legislation on which we agree and here are a few areas upon which we might find consensus. "

While some observers argue that both sides lost ground in this meeting, Midknight Review emphatically disagrees. Beginning with Lamar Alexander's opening comments, the GOP put Obama on the defensive, something from which he could not recover.

Conclusion: for the first time during the 12 month course of this debate, the GOP was given a national platform to present their views and they did an excellent job in making their case. Secondly, the Nation saw an Obama who not only demagogued GOP time, he put his own party members on the shelf, taking more time to talk than either the Dems or the GOP. His justification? "I'm the president. I don't count my time." Maybe so - but the rest of the Nation did count his time. Finally, the Nation had not heard the GOP plan. That was "new" but the arguments of Obama and the Democrat was not. How many times have we heard Obama's argument? "Too many" is the correct answer --- jds.
.
.