The political landscape

If I didn't know better, I'd think the president was intentionally trying to torpedo Democrats' hope of holding Senate control in next month's midterm elections.

For an administration prone to missteps, the past few weeks have raised the bar on the apparent rudderless ship of state.

With growing concerns over the Ebola outbreak, the president this week took the bold step of appointing a longtime partisan foot soldier with zero medical experience to be the nation's point man on Ebola.

If his goal was to reassure and calm American concerns, his appointment fell flat given the slim resume of this new Obama Ebola czar.

And then over the weekend -- when every political program and dinner table conversation was focused on the potential epidemic -- the president returned to his comfort zone on the golf links.

Now, I enjoy golf as much as the president, but the issue of optics is an important part of leadership and, once again, the president either doesn't care or he misses the point.

With the critical midterms just two weeks away, the administration also received a wake-up call on the lack of enthusiasm among African American voters.

An internal report -- to no one's surprise -- predicted that without the first black president on the ballot next month, minority turnout will fall far short of the numbers from 2008 and 2012.

The irony of that study is that politicians in southern states with large concentrations of African American voters are not interested in linking their campaign with this administration.

But while Ebola captures the headlines, there remain background stories that still resonate with Americans.

* Though suspected deserter Sgt. Bergdahl is back home, military officials will not announce their completed report on his disappearance until after election day.

Meanwhile, an American Marine remains in a Mexican jail without a peep from the administration.

* Our airstrikes against ISIS continue with limited success while the administration ignores the universal military advice that airstrikes alone will fail.

* In a repulsive and sickening display of race baiting, the Congressional Black Caucus had hoped to use the Ferguson, Missouri, tragedy as a rallying cry come November.

But as we near election day, that false narrative is starting to unravel as grand jury testimony starts to be made public.

* And while the Ebola concerns dominate the health discussion, the Congressional Budget Office reports that a lagging economy will turn Obamacare into a multi-billion dollar deficit instead of the deficit reduction that was promised.

* Even the First Lady is taking it on the chin with a deafening clamor and push-back on her healthy lunch program.

* When three Democratic senatorial candidates in close elections refuse to say if they voted for the president, you get a sense of the political landscape on the president's declining popularity.

* And lest we forget, the administration recently began leaking details of a highly unpopular executive order on amnesty that was promised before year's end.

Leadership is more than empty speeches and photo ops.

Yet that reality is lost on this administration.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.