The incredible vanishing presidency

  Here we stand on the threshold of Middle East change. Iranian students have begged for US support, if nothing else, at least moral and verbal. So have the Egyptian youth.
  Now LIbyan rebels are calling for the US to bomb their country, according to the Financial Times:

In the wake of Wednesday’s attacks a coalition of Libyan rebels urged the US and its allies to bomb mercenary forces supporting Colonel Gaddafi and to impose a no-fly zone. [SNIP]

It called for air strikes on the “strongholds of mercenaries” and a no-fly zone over the oil-rich north African state – but not foreign troops on the ground.

  This is an opportunity unequaled in recent memory. A decisive leader of a super power could make great inroads by doing nothing more than taking supportive stands for democracy around the world.
  Instead, we have....silence. Then a hesitant policy announcement. Then a withdrawal of that hesitant policy replaced by another hesitant policy announcement.
  In times of stress, he's nowhere to be found. When he does show up, he displays a weird disconnect with the situation, as if the deaths of soldiers by assassination mean little to him. 
  Even Democrats are wondering what the heck is going on. Ruth Marcus in the WaPo wonders aloud:

For a man who won office talking about change we can believe in, Barack Obama can be a strangely passive president. There are a startling number of occasions in which the president has been missing in action - unwilling, reluctant or late to weigh in on the issue of the moment. He is, too often, more reactive than inspirational, more cautious than forceful.

  Though her premise seems to be that he needs to do more to destroy this country to reinforce policies of change, still, Marcus wonders why her president doesn't take more of a stand on issues of importance to the country.
  Even the slavering Politico is wondering why the President is avoiding the press.
  Perhaps the answer can be found in what many suspect are root causes of this problem.
  Barack Obama was a charismatic character who captured the imagination of the electorate. He had little experience, and in what experience he did have, he had a history of disappearing when the really hard votes were taken, with the gruesome exception of partial birth abortion.
  He has taken on a stand on a few things during his presidency.
  Barack Obama does have a commitment to his leisure time. 
  He's a partier, we now know, though surely not a tea partier. His White House has entertained hundreds and hundreds of partying events. 
  He golfs, not just regularly, but religiously.
  Yet he dithers when it comes to the difficult and heroic decisions.
  Heck, he dithers when it comes to the easy stuff, as long as it requires him to take a stand on something he might change his mind on.
  He's also quick to utilize the issue of race to gain advantage or assign blame.
  Is this a sign of a leader?
  Or a vanishing presidency?