OUCH.  Peggy Noonan was once an Obama Republican.  She's having second thoughts.

 It is time for the president to get out of the way.

For the longest time he wouldn't engage, and now he's engaged. For the longest time he didn't care about spending, and now he cares about spending. Good, both in terms of policy and for him. But his decision to become engaged has become a decision to dominate, to have his face in front of the television cameras with his news conferences, pronouncements, and what his communications people are probably calling his "ownership" of any final agreement. He's trying to come across as the boss, the indispensable man, the leader. And, of course, the reasonable one.

That's all very nice and part of Political Positioning 101, but at this point it's not helping. He's becoming box-office poison. His numbers are falling.

Perhaps she is coming to understand, which might be painful for a one-time presidential speechwriter, that the President of the United States is less effective than his devotees or his enemies claim, and that electing a particular individual or enacting a particular set of policies is unlikely to make things better.  (This morning, the Talking Heads on Meet the Press were all about Washington is Broken and People Should Go Into Government to Solve Problems.  As if.  Problem Solving begins when a Sunday talk show deliberately chooses something other than the Capitol Dome as its background.)  Back to Ms Noonan on Our President.

In two and a half years he has reached the point that took George W. Bush five years to reach: People aren't listening anymore.

Her conclusion, while accurate from a descriptive perspective, is wrong from a policy perspective, at least as currently understood.

For now, for his sake and the sake of an ultimate plan, he should choose Strategic Silence. Really, recent presidents forget to shut up. They lose sight of how grating they are.

To practice strategic silence, or to shut up, is contrary to the dynamic of Becoming President.  Nobody runs for Commander in Chief and Protector of the Constitution anymore, it's all about Leader of the Free World and Healer of the Planet, and One Stroke of the Pen delivers Earthly Paradise.  No wonder people get disillusioned.