Five myths about Barack Obama

That said, there are few examples of Obama’s speeches actually moving popular opinion. That’s because he speaks in impressive paragraphs, not memorable sentences. He is allergic to sound bites, and that keeps him from effectively framing his goals and achievements.

The roots of this allergy may lie in his famous Philadelphia speech on race in 2008, which followed the revelations of incendiary comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The speech lacked memorable lines, but it was a big hit. I believe it convinced Obama that the public could absorb complex ideas without bumper sticker lines. He was wrong.

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4. Obama’s stimulus failed.

This has become a GOP talking point, repeated by everyone from John Boehner to Karl Rove to Romney. It isn’t true.

Objecting to various provisions of the stimulus or believing that it worsened the deficit isn’t the same as deeming it a failure. When the Obama administration was little more than a year old, three of the best-known economic research firms — IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy — all said the stimulus, which almost every Republican in Congress opposed, would create more than 2.5 million jobs. Last August, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the stimulus package created between 1.4 and 4 million jobs. Even Mark Zandi, one of McCain’s economic advisers in 2008, has called the stimulus “a significant benefit to the economy’s performance.”

Many on the left have complained that the $787 billion stimulus was too small. This may be true in economic terms, but it is an unfair shot at Obama. Congressional Democrats made it clear that this amount was the most that could win approval.

5. Obama is a weak leader.

When stumping for Romney, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a familiar theme: “We need a leader who will lead us to the moment . . . not to be cautious and safe and sit back and wait for someone else to do the hard work,” as he said in December. Then he attacks Obama for health-care reform and for not endorsing the work of the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission.

Huh? Saying the Affordable Care Act reflects a lack of leadership is like saying the Iraq war shows that Bush wasn’t a leader. Leading in the wrong direction should not be confused with not leading. In truth, Obama has often been a bold president, rolling the dice on health care and launching the attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound, in both cases over the objections of some advisers. He didn’t back Simpson-Bowles — for political reasons — but neither did Romney or other Republicans who reject the commission’s proposed tax increases. Are they weak leaders, too?

Some critics have suggested that, even among White House aides, there is a longing for the approach of the Clinton years. Yet, when I spoke to senior officials who worked for both presidents, they said much the same thing: Clinton was more creative, but Obama is more decisive in a crisis.

alterjonathan@gmail.com

Jonathan Alter is a columnist for Bloomberg View and the author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One.”

For more on President Obama’s record, read “Obama, the loner president” and “In 2012, both Obama and Romney would bear the burdens of health-care reform.”

For more myth-smashing, read “Five myths about the Keystone XL pipeline,” “Five myths about the Solyndra collapse” and “Five myths about Newt Gingrich.”

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