Few writers have defended first candidate, then President, Barack Obama as has scholar Camille Paglia.  But, she’s smart enough to realize his many errors.  And these she blames on a clumsy, smirky amateurish staff.  When one of her readers took issue with this defense, asking, “Has it occurred to you that maybe that is just who he is and the people he surrounds himself with are just a reflection of himself?“, she indicated she is beginning to lose patience with the Democrat:

You are correct to argue that the cluster of appointees around a person in power reflects his or her belief system and modus operandi. However, it is a mark of leadership to recognize the need for professional evolution beyond an old comfort zone. Obama is approaching a turning point which will define his political future, if he has one. He is surrounded by some mighty small potatoes who need shoveling into the dumpster. The petty provincials need to go, and far more sophisticated and world-savvy analysts must urgently be brought on board.

Emphasis added.  Wondering if the President has a turning point.  And she’ not sure that he does, meaning she’s not certain he may be able to fulfill his potential.

In the balance of her reply to the reader quoted above, she defends Obama the man while remaining “very critical” of many of his “actions or evasions.”  Wonder if her fellow Obama supporters will be calling her anti-American for cheering “when splendiferous Rio de Janeiro rightfully got” the Olympics and for faulting the president’s staff for sending him on a “fool’s errand” to beg for them.

And sounding like a lot of conservatives (and a number of liberals too), she questions his receipt of recent honor, contending that Obama

he has accomplished nothing thus far and did not remotely deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, a gift carrying a terrible curse. The Nobel should have been the crown of Obama’s career and not the butt of jokes.

Camille has much more, much much more and (as always) her posts merit your attention.  She is clearly losing patience with the man.

Her posts do show is that this Democrat has incredible appeal, even to thoughtful intellectuals like Paglia.  If he replaced his staff, he might well be able to turn things around and realize the potential that his gifts of public presence and oratory do offer.  To accomplish that, he’d have to turn away from his longing to move the country in a leftward direction and stand up to the spendthrift Democrats in Congress.  And stop beating up on his predecessor and undoing his policies.

I doubt he’ll do that.  But, those of us who have been critical of Obama’s statist policies should not be blind to his personal appeal.  Even in her frustration at his Administration, Camille Paglia admires the man. And her regard is not to be taken lightly.