Obama Urged to Seize Reins as Crises Pile Up - FoxNews.com

A conflict approaching civil war in Libya. An end-times tsunami in Japan. A Congress that can't reach a budget. 

And ... gender inequality?

The topic of President Obama's weekend radio address has raised some eyebrows, as Obama has met mounting crises with the same restraint and cool that characterized his slow-and-steady campaign for president. To some critics, the tone set by the White House in light of recent upheaval may hurt the president's public image.

Amid chaos around the world and on Capitol Hill, Obama's Saturday radio address was devoted to Women's History Month and a call to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a proposal meant to address the income gap between men and women. Then, the president went golfing at Andrews Air Force Base. 

"I don't know if they don't realize the disconnect and maybe they don't care ... but it does matter," Dana Perino, former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, told Fox News. 

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said that he doesn't "begrudge" the president for taking time out for recreation, but Libya and the budget in particular demand more involvement on Obama's part. 

Critics note that every time Congress works on a stopgap budget, it risks a government shutdown and does virtually nothing to cut spending, all the while creeping closer to a tricky -- and potentially disastrous -- vote on raising the debt ceiling; every day the administration defers to its international partners to weigh the best course of action in Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi gains ground. 

With the clock ticking, lawmakers and analysts are calling on the president to show a little more moxie on Capitol Hill and the world stage. 

"He seems paralyzed," said Nile Gardiner, a director with the conservative Heritage Foundation. 

On Japan, Obama has been quick to offer U.S. assistance to the nation as it struggles to recover from a catastrophic combination of earthquake, tsunami and possible nuclear meltdown. He addressed the crisis, as well as the Libyan conflict and the budget talks, during a press conference Friday initially called to discuss energy policy. 

He said the United States will "stand with" Japan and reiterated that support Monday at the top of a speech on education policy. In addition to military personnel and disaster-response teams, the United States has dispatched two nuclear experts to Japan. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president was briefed multiple times on the situation over the weekend. 

But after the Asian ally was stricken by an earthquake Friday, the president turned some heads for using the word "unshakeable" to describe the United States' alliance with Japan. 

On Libya, the issue has much less to do with image. The president on one hand has spoken forcefully about the need for Qaddafi to step down. Using some colorful language, he asserted Friday that the United States and its allies were "tightening the noose" on his regime. 

Yet Obama administration officials have made clear the United States will not play the lead role in resolving this conflict. 

Gardiner called the U.S. position an "unusual abdication of leadership by the world's only superpower." Though the administration wants any potential intervention to have a broad base of support, Gardiner said that whenever the United States steps aside on an international crisis, it creates a "vacuum" and can become an excuse for "inaction."

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