Silly season--no, seriously

Not that she should care, but Michelle Cottle is one of my favorite writers at TNR. I recently read a bunch of Michelle Obama profiles, and her's--which wasn't even quite a profile--was by far the best. But I don't quite get the point of this piece on Obama's cool:

The "No Drama Obama" label suits him. Long, lean, and always perfectly turned out, the man looks as though he could withstand a nuclear staredown without breaking a sweat.

All of which strikes me as a bit of a problem at this point. While the cool, composed, no-drama demeanor helps Obama appear presidential--and no doubt allays some subliminal white racial anxieties--it also threatens to make him look a bit detached from the many and multiplying crises around him. These are not, to put it mildly, the most soothing of times for Americans. The economy is shaky. Unemployment is up. Growth is down. Oil prices have hit the roof just as home prices have crashed through the floor. Detroit is facing a full-fledged meltdown. We are still embroiled in two wars, neither of which offers much hope for a happy ending. Al Qaeda is running wild in western Pakistan. And now, like some bad acid flashback, Russia is acting like it wants to restart the Cold War.

Now admittedly, my brain shuts down whenever I read phrases like "appear presidential." It's one of those phrases which, in a world of Monica Lewinsky and missing WMDs, I simply can't comprehend. Moreover, I keep wondering when some humility will kick in for those of us in the punditry class. Remember when Obama wasn't black enough and Hillary was going to murder him in the hood? Remember when John McCain campaign was effectively dead? Remember when the primary was going to be over in New Hampshire?