Obama and his acolytes are so accustomed to reverential treatment they view it as an entitlement.  

If President Obama had his way I am sure he would move Valentine's Day from February 14th to November 4th – the anniversary of his election. Who could blame him? In a little over four years, Obama went from being an obscure Illinois State Senator to the most beloved man in the world.

In the year since Obama's election this orgy of adoration has continued unabated with schoolchildren singing his praises, the Nobel Committee bestowing him with its highest honor and National Endowment of the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman calling him the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. (http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=13 ) Not to be outdone, Evan Thomas of Newsweek, compared him to God. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4VZ8xCzOg )We might as well reserve a spot on Mount Rushmore here and now.

President Obama has achieved the kind of celebrity and notoriety which inspires the sort of devotion that manifests itself into love. If one is on the receiving end this sort of adulation one cannot help but get a big kick out of it and want more. It isn't enough for Obama to be loved by some of the people some of the time. He must be loved by all of the people all of the time. Whether or not Obama returns your love is beside the point. Even if you happen to work for the Fox News Channel, were elected a local Chamber of Commerce President, were trained as an ear, nose and throat specialist or serve as a Cambridge Police Sergeant he must have your unconditional love.

To be certain there are people who believe Barack Obama stands between godliness and cleanliness. He is the Messiah who will lead them to a socialist paradise. But there are also people who cast ballots for Obama who also voted for George W. Bush twice. These people would grow weary of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as with his rampant spending and expansion of government. Throw in the greatest cataclysmic shock to our economy in three decades and you have lifelong Republicans joining liberal Democrats in pulling a lever for Obama. That these Republican voters are now dissatisfied with Obama makes them restless not racist.

That is why Obama should never confuse pulling a lever in polling booth for pulling a heartstring in a kissing booth. People don't love politicians. People want politicians to get things done in as fair a manner as possible. People don't expect perfection but do want diligence and honesty. If a politician can do that then people don't mind getting a Christmas card in the mail from them. A Valentine's card from a politician, on the other hand, would be the kiss of death.

Whatever the verdict of the Nobel Committee, the American jury is still out on the presidency of Barack Obama. Does he expect us to believe he will implement universal health care without adding a dime to the deficit? Will we want to hear how many jobs his Administration has created or saved when the unemployment rate hits double digits? How long are we prepared to let him keep our troops in Afghanistan spinning in the wind? How long are our troops to be left wondering if they are going to receive any help from their Commander in Chief? Will the White House devote more of its resources to fighting Fox News than to fighting al Qaeda?

The American electorate is expecting from Obama what they expect of every President: positive, tangible results. If Obama cannot meet these expectations then he should not expect to be showered with love much less with votes. Simply put Obama must earn our love and support.

Yet Obama has been so soaked with love one wonders if he can dry himself off and join the rest of us in the real world. Obama and his acolytes are so accustomed to reverential treatment they view it as an entitlement. When they are greeted with anything other than a red carpet it is viewed as a distortion that can only be addressed by speaking truth to power as if they had a monopoly on the truth.

Again, there are some amongst us who will love Obama no matter what he does. Conversely, there are those amongst us who don't believe a word he says. If he were to tell those people the sun was shining they would promptly retrieve their umbrellas. But most Americans neither love nor hate Obama. They just want him to govern competently and reasonably. If their lives are better off in 2012 than they were in 2008 then they will re-elect him. If their lives aren't better in 2012 then they will let someone else have of a go of it. If Obama wants to be President in 2012 then he must earn our respect today rather than wonder if we'll still love him tomorrow.