By Mark Rhoads
On May 4, President Barack Obama told reporter Steve Kroft on the CBS 60 Minutes program that he would not release photos of a dead Osama bin Laden because "We don't need to spike the football" because that might inflame hostility toward America from radical Muslim followers of bin Laden. But after seeing his approval rating in polls take a positive bounce of several points, suddenly spiking the ball and taking victory laps is just fine. According to the Los Angeles Times, Obama is taking advantage of every chance to spike the ball he can find in campaign speeches.
Even with a bounce in popularity for his decisiveness and follow through, Obama is reverting to form. He cannot help himself from over reaching because being a strutting egotist is a lot more fun for him than being a low-profile statesman. Like so many political figures, Obama is often his own worst saboteur of his success. Humility is not something Obama ever does very well.
In 2009 focus groups were quick to say they liked Obama personally even if they disagreed with his policies but that is no longer true. Obama does not have the coating of teflon that Ronald Reagan often enjoyed because Reagan's self-deprecaing humor was an indicator of his sincere humility to the public. But focus groups are now starting to indicate that the public thinks Obama is an incurable egotist and because of that his post-Osama bin Laden mission glow might fade very fast. President George W. Bush got a six-point approval bounce in mid-December 2003 after the US Army captured Saddam Hussein but that bounce did not last two months. I don't think Obama's bounce will last even that long.
