Barack Obama is an intellectual. This in and of itself is not a bad thing except that intellectuals expect other people to speak and think on their level and this simply will not happen. This is why his approval rating has gone down since his election. Despite president Obama's success rate at accomplishing many of the goals he set out to accomplish in his campaign promises many Americans will still accept the tirades of rumor spinners and gossip fabricators because it easier to do than to maintain a sharp and clear mind to process the complexity and enormity of the tasks set before their president.
His opponents and ill wishers take advantage of this to continuously distract the weak minded from engaging their cerebellums in anything more complex than flipping TV channels or Internet surfing. Their ultimate goal of course is to plant easily process-able images of an incompetent or unconcerned president. Most people don't respond to civil discourse and cooperation among adversaries because that does not make for good entertainment. They like to hear a verbal lambast and they like to see what appears as a clear hero and a clear villain.
Whoever is the most charismatic will usually be seen as the hero while the villain will be determined by the oppositions silence or patience in their demeanor. Sarah Palin learned this lesson quickly when she was selected as vice presidential running mate to Senator John McCain. The Senator most likely selected her because of the impartial way she dealt with corruption as governor of Alaska. A quality that made her an excellent VP for a man that was looking to eliminate corruption in congress and Washington.
But Ms. Palin quickly caught on that Sarah homemaker was not what America clamored for. She quickly transformed herself almost overnight into the Tea Party's Ramboesque Heroine complete with the same foundationless attacks and meaningless arguments. She is currently even campaigning for Americas popularity vote long before she has even declared her candidacy. Thus bypassing any rules that might hinder an actual campaigning candidate. She remembers her own personal wardrobe-gate while running with McCain. Proving once and for all that if she does get Americas vote that charisma and showmanship get more attention than an intellectual appeal from a conservative democratic president.