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What can President Obama learn from Sarah Palin? (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

With President Obama now below 50 percent approval for the first time, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd suggests the president could learn "a thing or three" from Sarah Palin.

Dowd writes that with the former V-P candidate back on the trail for her book tour, she clearly hasn't boned up on anything and "she still has that Yoda-like syntax."

But Dowd warns it would be foolish for the Democrats to write off Palin. She says that although President Obama is highly intelligent and likable - he's not connecting on a gut level with the public. She suggests he might be getting too bogged down in pragmatism and the details of legislative compromises.

Dowd writes that the president, who she calls the "Cerebral One," might want to take lessons from Palin, the "Visceral One."

She writes: "Palin can be stupefyingly simplistic, but she seems dynamic. Obama is impressively complex but he seems static. She nurtures her grass roots while he neglects his. He struggles to transcend identity politics while she wallows in them. As he builds an emotional moat around himself, she exuberantly pushes whatever she has, warts and all..."

Meanwhile – it's clear Sarah Palin is saying something people want to hear. She sold 300,000 copies of her memoir on the day of its release - one of the best openings ever for a nonfiction book, easily topping people like Hillary Clinton.

As for President Obama - the Gallup Daily Tracking poll puts his approval rating at 49 percent - the first time he's dropped below 50 percent since taking office.

Here’s my question to you: What can President Obama learn from Sarah Palin?

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Would you vote to re-elect Pres. Obama 1 year later?

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty

A year after President Obama rode into office on the mantra of hope and change, a lot of people are wondering, "Where's the beef?"

There's no question that change takes time... but there's been a lack of meaningful progress on so many of the big issues that faced him when he first occupied the Oval Office.

–Unemployment is now topping 10% and many think it will go even higher before things get better. We were told the stimulus package would keep it from going above eight percent.

–Health care reform, perhaps the president's top domestic priority, still has a long way to go before it becomes a reality - if it ever does.

–Deficits continue to soar, with the national debt now topping an astounding $12 trillion. This comes less than eight months after the debt hit $11 trillion.

–The president has committed to withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but with renewed violence there it's an open question how soon they can all come out. Afghanistan has now become Obama's war... as he decides whether to add more troops.

–The president's January deadline of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp will likely go unmet.

As for other issues like immigration reform, legislation on climate change or regulating Wall Street - nothing yet.

The interesting thing is despite a lack of progress on a lot of these issues, the American people still like their new president.

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 55% approve of how the president is handling his job... Furthermore, apart from his job approval... a whopping 76% have a favorable view of Mr. Obama as a person.

SO HERE'S MY QUESTION FOR YOU: Would you vote to re-elect President Obama one year later?

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When it comes to stimulus and bailout money, has Pres. Obama kept his promise of transparency?

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Pres. Obama has been promising the American people transparency ever since he was on the campaign trail.

And, when it comes to the $700 billion dollar bank and auto bailouts, known as TARP, and the $787 billion economic stimulus package, the president vowed an unprecedented level of openness.

A lot of information has been made public through websites like recovery.gov and financialstability.gov. The administration calls these sites "pioneering" compared to how government worked in the past.

But we're talking about almost $1.5 trillion dollars here – and there is key information that the public doesn't know about how and where this money is being spent.

For example, the Treasury Department doesn't require banks that have gotten TARP funds to show how they're using the money or who the bailed out banks are lending to.

Also, taxpayers won't have any idea if they've lost or made money on government investments in companies like General Motors, AIG, Citigroup and Bank of America until the government sells its stakes.

As for the spending of stimulus dollars, the government accounting only goes as far as the first tier recipients from the states. So it's not known which and how many companies down the line are getting work.

It's not enough. We deserve the transparency that was promised us. Otherwise it's just another example of government lying to us in order to get us to go along with something. Does the Iraq war ring a bell?

SO HERE'S THE QUESTION:When it comes to stimulus and bailout money, has Pres. Obama kept his promise of transparency?

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The increasingly bitter battle over health care reform is making some people question President Obama's leadership.

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

The increasingly bitter battle over health care reform is making some people question President Obama's leadership.

Critics suggest that when it comes to governing on issues like health care, the president is missing the smooth confidence and "Yes we can" charisma that got him elected.

New York Times Columnist Maureen Dowd writes of this debate that seems to be spinning out of control:

"President Obama has proven quicksilver instincts, but not in this case. You would think that a politician schooled in community organizing and the foul balls of a presidential campaign would be ready to squash this kind of nuttiness." Dowd adds that Mr. Obama knows how to rise to the occasion, but he may be running out of time to do so.

On Salon.com, Camille Paglia criticizes the president for proposing only "vague and slippery promises" when it comes to health care. Paglia, who supports the president, faults him for handing over much of the debate to congressional leaders and also seeming to be in an unexplained rush to get something – anything – passed.
She compares it to the "massive boondoggle" of the economic stimulus package, which the president pretty much gave Congress free rein to turn into one big pork project.

And it's not just health care. The list of issues this president faces is mind-boggling and probably unprecedented: from the economy and healthcare to immigration reform (which Mr. Obama now says won't happen until next year) on the home front... to Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea overseas.

Critics say on a lot of this stuff, the president is talking, not leading.

SO HERE'S THE QUESTION: Is Barack Obama meeting your expectations as president?

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FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Perhaps feeling proud of his accomplishments during his first four months in office, President Obama told a star-studded Hollywood crowd, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Should President Obama be so confident about his presidency?

At a fund-raising dinner where couples paid $30,000 a ticket, the president said he would put his first four months in office up against any prior administration since FDR.

Mr. Obama ticked off a list of some of the successes he's achieved so far including: passing the largest economic recovery package in the history of the U.S., removing the ban on funding of embryonic stem cell research, taking measures to stabilize the housing market, cracking down on predatory abuses by credit card companies and expanding the children's health insurance program. He also praised Sonia Sotomayor, his nominee for the Supreme Court.

Mr. Obama acknowledged that although his administration has made progress, there is more work to do and said we can't rest on our laurels. "It won't be easy. There will be setbacks. It will take time." He added that he's made some mistakes and guarantees he'll make more.

Meanwhile, when it comes to raising money, Barack Obama hasn't lost his fastball. The celebrity dinner, along with a concert later that evening, brought in between $3 and $4 million for the DNC.

Here’s my question to you: President Obama says "You ain't seen nothing yet" when it comes to his presidency. Should he be so confident?

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