"The Oval Office is not the premium venue it may once have been"

Saw the president speaking on the airport monitors as I came in to O'Hare. It looked like he needed an audience, standing at a podium. The airport did not appear to be rapt.

Lynn Sweet, court reporter set the stage. Is the Oval office too humble for this grandiose president? Or has he cheapened it, by taking America for granted, committing our finest to battle casually, even as he's badmouthed our country his entire political career.

I hope to God Gaddafi falls, since the president committed us to this path weeks ago by stating he needed to go. I hope we prevail in spite of our weak reed of a president.

More. NATO takeover has been delayed. I actually think this is a hopeful sign, given that we are hammering Gaddafi's positions in concert with the rebels. It seems the policy, if not stated, is regime change.

More. WSJ:

House Speaker John Boehner's questions to Mr. Obama last week concerning the Libyan mission's goals are certainly appropriate, and it was clear from Monday night's speech that they have influenced the Administration's argument. Mr. Obama was at pains to portray the Libyan effort as the product of U.S. leadership, though the French, Arabs and Libyan rebels all had to plead the U.S. to act.

This is what we mean by constructive criticism by a loyal opposition whose goal is to help the U.S. succeed in its mission—as the American military is well on its way to doing, by the way. Despite the diplomatic confusion of last week, the expansion of a no-fly zone to target Moammar Gadhafi's forces is already paying benefits on the ground. The rebels have retaken several cities and yesterday were moving on the Gadhafi hometown of Sirte. Gadhafi's loyalists must be recalculating the cost of their allegiance.

Republicans ought to prod Mr. Obama to push for a faster resolution that ends with the toppling of Gadhafi and his sons from power.