THE LESS THAN CHARMING PRESIDENT – AT 6:25 P.M. ET:  Many votes in presidential elections are cast, not from the head, but from the gut.  It's how we feel about a candidate.  Do we like him, or her.  Is there trust in a crisis?

Daniel Henninger of The Wall Street Journal, argues something we've believed here for a long time – that President Obama, once the nice-guy-with-a-brain candidate, isn't coming off as particularly likable any longer.  And it can cost him:

If it is true, as Michelle Obama said in February, that her husband isn't smoking anymore, maybe he'd better start mellowing out with the cigs again before it costs him the presidency.

The Barack Obama we've been seeing lately is a different personality than the one that made a miracle run to the White House in 2008.

Obama.2008 was engaging, patient, open, optimistic and a self-identified conciliator.

Obama.2011 has been something else—testy, petulant, impatient, arrogant and increasingly a divider.

Never forget: That historic 2008 victory came with 52.9% of the total vote and 52% of independent voters. David Axelrod recently noted "how small the margin for error is."

Presidential personality is well inside the margin of error for 2012, but the one on display recently has not been attractive. And it's happening a lot.

This Monday, after wrapping up a White House interview with a Dallas TV reporter, the station reported that Mr. Obama said: "Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, alright?"

And...

The Obama migration from the high road to the low road is evident even in nonpolitical settings. Here he is last weekend talking about the White House phone system: "You know the Oval Office always thought I was going to have like real cool phones and stuff. I'm like 'come on guys, I'm the president of the United States.' Where's the fancy buttons and stuff, and the big screen comes up? It doesn't happen."

I'm like? Real cool phones and stuff? Would Franklin Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy ever have affected whatever their generational equivalent was of "Where's the fancy buttons and stuff?"

And...

The latest Obama, which seems genuine, routinely ridicules and mocks his opposition. He mocks pretty much anyone who disagrees with him about anything.

Finally...

What voters like is the memory of the historic Obama they voted into the office of the presidency. The person they voted for in 2008 is different than the person who kicked off his presidential campaign last week by personally stomping his opposition.

Somehow voters are apparently expected to "like" whichever version Mr. Obama chooses to give them. It is asking a lot. By definition, this is a gap, and it's looking like it could be a dangerous one for the incumbent.

COMMENT:  Agreed, although the media will soften the blows on the president, even the self-inflicted ones.  But the Obama of 2011 is not the Obama of 2008.  Today he is an experienced president who's seen what the job really is, and he's seen that his little coffee-house (caffeine-free) theories don't necessarily work in the real McDonald's world. 

Some of his rabid base hasn't seen the real world, and that is causing the president no end of trouble.  He is being heckled at one rally after another.  Today the followers of Bradley Manning, the imprisoned soldier who is charged with passing a vast amount of classified data to WikiLeaks, interrupted an Obama appearance with their shouted demands that their hero be better loved. 

The president has his troubles.  We tend to forget what Henninger reports – that Mr. Obama only got 52.9 percent of the vote in 2008.  The way the media reported it, you'd think he was elected almost unanimously. 

At the same time, the president has the power of incumbency.  The Republicans have the weakness of being in the media crosshairs.  Still a hard fight.

April 21, 2011