Obama is unlikely to trim his aggressive agenda

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has one thing he really wants, something that would make his job just a little bit easier.

"I told the president last week I hoped to wake up one day for a boring day in his administration," he confessed to reporters who were pummeling him on everything from Obama's decision to go to Denmark to lobby for the Olympics to that day's focus on foreign policy.

But, said Gibbs, "It just hasn't happened yet." The next day, Gibbs and the president were off to Copenhagen trying to win the 2016 Olympic Games for Chicago.

The trip was not entirely surprising, given the president's close ties to and many friends in Chicago. But, somewhat unexpectedly, it focused attention on the White House's priorities and raised the question again of whether this president is trying to do too much. Those questions only grew louder when the International Olympic Committee brushed aside the president's plea.

"The trip shows where his priorities are," said Ron Bonjean, who has served as a strategist and adviser to Republicans in both the House and the Senate. "They are everywhere. There is no one single top priority. They are all top priorities for him."

Pollster John Zogby said the criticism is coming primarily "from Republicans and those not inclined to support Obama anyway." He said the American people are more forgiving.

"Do Americans clearly understand that there is a problem with the healthcare system? Yes. Do they understand there is a problem with the economy? Absolutely. That both wars are going badly? Absolutely. Do they grasp global warming? Sure. Swine flu? Yes. What's next?" he asked. "Locusts?"

Zogby said Americans will cut a break for Obama tackling so many different things because their message in last year's election was not so much for liberalism or against conservatism. "Voters were saying, 'Do something. Solve problems,'" he said.

Bonjean acknowledged the many problems facing the president. But he said that is the reason a good chief executive prioritizes. "He's not juggling balls. They are more like flaming torches, and if he drops one, it can cause a lot of damage," he said, stating that the White House is "in danger of overreach."

He said almost everybody shared the goal of bringing the Olympics to Chicago. "But what is the price? One of these other issues pays a price for it. The real question is: What are the cost benefits of the trip?"

Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., was more pointed when it was announced the president was going to Copenhagen. "It's baffling that the president has time to travel to Copenhagen, to be on [`The Late Show with David] Letterman' and every channel except the Food Network, and, yet, he doesn't have time to talk with and listen to his top general" in Afghanistan.

Within days, the president convened a major review of Afghan policy, one that included Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander in Afghanistan.

Some support for Obama on this issue comes from an unlikely source -- Ari Fleischer, who was President George W. Bush's first press secretary. Fleischer joked that he felt "instant identification" with Gibbs' wish for a boring day, though he said Gibbs won't see that till "the day after he leaves the White House."

But he said Obama's decision to go to Copenhagen "is the way of the world today. America's absence would have been notable if he did not go."

And he said reporters always seem surprised when any White House tackles several issues at once. "When I was there, it was frustrating because reporters would say 'You've got too much on your plate; how can you do it all?' "

Fleischer added: "While in the news industry there can be only one lead story, at the White House you can juggle many different leads. It is doable in a well-run White House to manage multiple priorities."

The questions about trying to do too much have plagued the White House since the early days of the administration and grew every time the president launched an initiative such as climate change, financial regulation, health care -- basically anything other than fixing the economy.

The president has often mentioned the criticism, usually seeming exasperated and asking which problems the critics would have him ignore.

"Some of the pundits in Washington ... have been saying, 'Well, maybe you've been trying to do too much,'" he said at a recent event at the University of Maryland. But the students drowned him out, yelling, "No."

At another event, he noted dryly, "I'm not doing this because I don't have enough to do."

Gibbs chided reporters for one day asking him if the president was letting domestic issues overshadow foreign problems and the next day suggesting foreign policy was causing domestic inattention. "Maybe you guys should huddle, maybe come up with one premise that we'll at least test for one day," he said.

Zogby said that was evident in the criticism of the Olympic trip. "He was only gone one day. He is hardly sleeping on the job," said the pollster. "So what is it? Is he doing too much or too little?"

Bonjean said it is simple -- he wants the president to start saying "no."

"The hardest thing for a president to do is say 'no.' " he said. "If you look at this administration, they are saying 'yes' to everyone, to every constituency. Therefore, they are not moving their agenda forward."