As Stephen Colbert was heard to say, "...never have so many people who hate each other reached such unanimity."

He was of course, referring to Barack Obama's speech on the Gulf oil spill, which itself was designed to reverse the President's slide in the polls after more than two months of thumb-twiddling.

The thrill-up-their-leg lefties at MSNBC and the always-certain conservatives at Fox News were united in their negative views of the speech, which reflected the general perceptions of the few people who actually watched the speech.

Time for humility? Accountability? Competence?

Nah. Obama was just too hip for the room.

President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.

Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House was written to a 9.8 grade level, said Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. The Austin, Texas-based company analyzes and catalogues trends in word usage and word choice and their impact on culture.

...

"A little less professorial, less academic and more ordinary," Payack recommended. "That's the type of phraseology that makes you (appear) aloof and out of touch."

Pretty lame excuse, especially considering that the audience who deigned to watch the President were self-selected. I don't imagine too many morons reading at the six grade level switched over from America's Got Talent. It also doesn't explain why news commentators, all presumably capable of reading at a ninth or tenth grade level, found the speech profoundly disappointing.

Barack Obama sounds aloof and out of touch because, well, he's aloof and out of touch.