Fran O'Sullivan: Republican beefcake's arrival kicks sand on Obama's agenda

How ironic that Barack Obama's grip on US politics should be loosened by a newbie Republican senator who is every bit a tasty morsel of eye candy as the president himself.

What Scott Brown has demonstrated by ousting the late Ted Kennedy's prized Massachusetts' seat after nearly half a century of Democratic control is the "audacity of audacity."

The kind of audacity which prompted him nearly a quarter of a century ago to pose naked for the centre-fold of Cosmopolitan magazine (a feat which has now earned him the moniker of "Senator Beefcake") while Obama still had his head in law books.

It is the kind of audacity which apparently prompted the Senator to say he might make a repeat performance of his Cosmo spread ("Heck, Republicans can even be sexy") and jest during his acceptance speech that his daughters "were available".

But also the kind of audacity which spurred him to vow the Massachusetts seat belonged to no one person or party, but was "the people's seat."

It is far too early to tell whether Brown's populist approach will enable him to forge a powerbase in the US Senate. He is after all the newbie on the block.

But he is also the winning candidate who has delivered the Republicans the extra vote they needed for the all out Senate majority to stymie Obama from getting his healthcare proposals passed into legislation.

Already he is being talked about as a potential presidential candidate. And importantly he can do stuff in the Senate, while Sarah Palin sits ringside as a Fox News commentator refusing to confirm whether she still harbours presidential ambitions.

Obama first swept to public attention with the spell-binding power of the soaring oratory so-well captured in his life story The Audacity of hope. His was to be the unifying voice that brought Americans together.

But one year into his presidency Obama has found out in a very public way that his movie-star looks, his ability to deliver a spell-binding stump speech and the cachet he earned through becoming the United States' first black President count for little with many Americans who are fearful of losing their jobs.

High-falutin' oratory doesn't really cut the mustard when ordinary folk are struggling to find work and pay the mortgage. They can be proud of their President on the world stage, but they are also aware that he won't front-up directly to their most pressing issues.

Say what you will about George W. Bush (and we all do) but the former president did in fact connect with plenty of ordinary Americans at a visceral level. Perhaps not surprising when his favourite all-time movie was Cool Hand Luke.

Bush mangled his spoken English. But he also had answers to journalistic interlocutors. Maybe not the ones they wanted - but answer nevertheless ...

His infamous Top Gun landing on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to announce an end to major combat in Iraq was also audacity of another kind - but also proved to be a misjudgment.

By choosing to blame the Massachusetts defeat on the hangover from the Bush Administration, Obama has weakened himself. He has been too anxious to press ahead with his social reform agenda instead of first growing the economic pie.

Liberal economic high-priests like Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman and Robert Reich are now questioning his priorities.

Obama may get lucky. If the economy pulls out of its current nose dive he could still win a second term as President. But the tide is changing.

The upcoming mid-term elections may see the Republicans pick up more seats and with it the ability to frustrate his programme.

The only way for Obama to turn the tide back is to go over the top of the Republican grandees and appeal to the American people to support his drive for the centre-ground. This will be time-consuming and require him to spend much more of his political capital arm-twisting the Senate.

It can be done. Former US president Bill Clinton was able to build a constituency for his own political programme before the House of Representatives impeached him on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice over the Monica Lewinsky affair. He was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

Obama will not be brought down through such personal foibles. But he should better recognise that the tide is turning.

Already the entertainment rags are promoting as "news" - a rumour that Oprah Winfrey has pledged her support to Hillary Clinton for a White House run in 2012.

Obama's loftiness has proven to be a weakness in office. He needs to come down from the pedestal he has erected for himself before rivals and enemies tear it from under him.