Opinion: President Obama Between Barack and a Hard Place

(June 10) -- Every Tuesday I appear on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor" in a segment called "Barack and a Hard Place." That seems to be where the president finds himself these days.

When I was a kid, my mother would leave a bowl of egg salad and a bowl of tuna salad in the refrigerator.

If I ate the egg salad, she'd say, "Why didn't you have the tuna salad?"

If I ate the tuna salad, I'd get, "Why didn't you eat the egg salad?"

Charles Dharapak, AP

President Barack Obama seems to find criticism at every turn these days.

Oh, and, "Why didn't you touch the potato chips?"

It's the same thing with President Barack Obama.

The president's criticism of BP has been called, variously, not soon enough, not aggressive enough and even, by Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul, un-American. Had he acted to immediately take over BP's efforts, he would have been called a socialist. He didn't do that, of course, but got no credit from those who, under different circumstances, should then rightly be applauding his free-market stance.

People complain that Obama is too cool. Doesn't emote. But when President Bill Clinton bit his lower lip and emoted, they called him a phony. And when Obama showed passion on the "Today" show and said it was important to figure out "whose ass to kick," there was criticism of such forceful language. He emoted too much.

When Obama went to Lincoln Cemetery in Illinois instead of Arlington on Memorial Day, he was criticized for not being at Arlington, as if only the war dead there should warrant a presidential visit. Never mind that Ronald Reagan skipped Arlington some years, and George H.W. Bush, 41, spent one Memorial Day playing golf in Kennebunkport. Then you have those who resent that Obama never served and what the heck is he doing as commander in chief, anyway?

When Obama takes a position that doesn't favor what the majority is saying, he's called out of step; when he does what the majority says it wants, he's accused of just listening to the polls.

He was supposed to be a radical leftist bent on remaking America. Or is he a too-cautious conciliator who wants everyone to like him?

Obama's critics begrudgingly say he speaks well, but only with a teleprompter, and then they say he speaks too much, just stop talking so much and do something. Then he gives a news conference in May, and they complain he hasn't done one since February and that he isn't taking enough questions.

So, based on my early refrigerator experiences, knowing full-well what it is to be between Barack and a hard place, here is my best advice: have a little egg salad, and a little tuna salad, and let the potato chips fall where they may.

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