On my blog, a New York Times reader named Eddie asked about President Barack Obama: Where is the man I voted for?

 Does he ever sweat? Eddie continued. Were in desperate times and I dont see a man who is really affected by it. He concluded: We need a committed, passionate person to lead a country … not a Sunday school teacher taking cautious, baby steps.

 Well, its time for Obama to sweat like a racehorse. My feeling is that the country has gone too far on blaming its economic distress on Obama, failing to give him credit for averting another Great Depression among other achievements. But it seems as if Michelle and I may be the only ones who think that way.

 I plumb the national disappointment when I return to my hometown in rural Oregon. One friend who has struggled to get health care and will benefit hugely from Obamas health plan is indignant at Obama – partly because of incorrect scare stories he has heard about the health reform. Others are aghast at the economic stimulus, even though it provided desperately needed jobs. In short, Obama hasnt mustered an argument that resonates even among the beneficiaries of his policies.

Thats a failure of politics and salesmanship, but its more than that. To a disconcerting number of people I talk to, Obama comes across as remote, detached, inauthentic and arrogant. All thats deeply unfair, I think, but its the stark reality.  Its puzzling candidate Obama could be so inspiring and eloquent, while President Obama has been flat. I wonder if he hasnt absorbed too much of Mario Cuomos dictum: We campaign in poetry, and we govern in prose.

 Please, Mr. Obama! The prose neednt be as dry as the Harvard Law Review. And we wouldnt mind being lifted by an occasional verse of poetry.  If Obama is going to connect with voters, he must confront the economic crisis emotionally as well as intellectually. Hell need to focus not only on optimal policies but also on pithy messages. It does no good to have a great product if no one buys it. 

Bill Clinton would make a terrific tutor. Despite his current wealth, he came across on the stump as virtually another victim of the recession while arguing lucidly for Democrats as the best redress for that pain. Clinton is as much a policy wonk as Obama, but he devotes far more energy to marketing.

 Still, dont write off Obama too soon. After the 1994 midterm elections repudiated Clinton, we in the news media wrote ridiculous commentary about how Clinton might now be irrelevant. As Clinton writes in his memoir, After the 1994 elections, I had been ridiculed as an irrelevant figure, destined for defeat in 1996.

 Didnt work out that way, did it? 

Likewise, even FDR suffered a severe midterm defeat in 1938. The New Deal has been halted, The New York Times declared at the time. But Roosevelt learned his lessons and won two more presidential elections after that, cementing his place in history. 

My hunch is that Obama is also capable of learning lessons and growing as a president. And the Republican-majority House will offer a fine target for improved messaging – especially if its first priority will be to worsen the budget deficit by cutting taxes for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.

 Or consider Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, freshly re-elected and the godfather of the Senates Tea Party faction. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, DeMint advises new Tea Party members of Congress not to be co-opted and adds: Put on your boxing gloves. The fight begins today.

 Thats a fight that should end with a knockout for Obama. Over the years, DeMint has spoken out against not only gay teachers but also female teachers who have sex before marriage. After a rally Oct. 1, the Spartanburg, S.C., newspaper paraphrased him: An unmarried woman whos sleeping with her boyfriend she shouldnt be in the classroom.  DeMint later clarified that this is an issue best left for local school boards. But I think most Americans seek a moral leadership that isnt about wagging fingers at women who have sex with boyfriends. The moral imperative should be getting Americans jobs, decent schools, access to doctors and a measure of opportunity.

 Obama has a far better product to sell than Tea Partiers like DeMint. But Obama needs to connect better with American voters. He needs to lose the cool and start sweating – and slugging.

 If he can do that, and if the economy comes back over the next couple of years, he can still be remembered as one of our great presidents. One who served two terms.

Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. He is a columnist for The New York Times. He and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, share a 1990 Pulitizer Prize for their coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement in China.