Four years ago then Senator Obama ran for President as a blank slate. This allowed people to project their hopes and desires on the unknown who was Barack Obama.

It allowed him to defeat Hillary Clinton for the nomination – barely. In fact, you have to wonder what would have happened if she had decided to take the battle to the convention. If she had known the conditions in the country were going to deteriorate, to the point no Republican candidate could have won in 2008, perhaps she would have. Remember, the 2008 Presidential race was a toss-up until the financial crisis struck.

But I don’t like to dally in what if’s, it gives me a headache.

Now in 2012, President Obama is a known entity. He can’t hide in obscurity. We know him now. Since we do know him, this incumbant President is going to have to seek re-election by primarily attacking his opponent, not touting his achievements. Peggy Noonan today concludes her column “A Bush League President” with this observation:

It’s interesting that the Obama campaign isn’t using what incumbent presidents always sooner or later use, either straight out or subliminally. And that is “You know me. I’ve been president for almost four years, you don’t know that other guy. In a high-stakes world do you really want someone new?” You know why they’re not using “You know me”? Because we know him, and it’s not a plus. Here’s one reason why There is a growing air of incompetence around Mr. Obama’s White House. It was seen again this week in Supreme Court arguments over the administration’s challenge to Arizona’s attempted crackdown on illegal immigration. As Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News wrote, the court seemed to be disagreeing with the administration’s understanding of federal power: “Solicitor General Donald Verrilli . . . met resistance across ideological lines. . . . Even Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s only Hispanic and an Obama appointee, told Verrilli his argument is ‘not selling very well.’ ” This follows last month’s embarrassing showing over the constitutionality of parts of ObamaCare. All of this looks so bush league, so scattered. Add it to the General Services Administration, to Solyndra, to the other scandals, and you get a growing sense that no one’s in charge, that the administration is paying attention to politics but not day-to-day governance. The two most public cabinet members are Eric Holder at Justice and Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security. He is overseeing the administration’s Supreme Court cases. She is in charge of being unmoved by the daily stories of Transportation Security Administration incompetence and even cruelty at our airports. Those incidents and stories continue, but if you go to the Homeland Security website, there is no mention of them. It’s as if they don’t even exist.

Yea, we know President Obama, he is Mr. Cool:

Yep, we know him… he is John Travolta, Al Green and Mr Miyagi all rolled into one

The problem is none of them would make a good President.

Okay, maybe Mr Miyagi.

But he’s not real.