That’s not a facetious question. When things go badly for Barack Obama, his instinct says: Make a big speech. Given that his political career was more or less launched on the strength of a single episode of expert jawboning, that is understandable. And it will be a big media circus — but what exactly is “historic” about a politician making a speech to a bunch of schoolkids? Yes, the Internet and the power of the presidency to compel attention give him the ability to speak to all of the nation’s public-school kids at once, which I suppose is historic, and kind of creepily Orwellian, too.

And the lesson plans! Readers, do check out the lesson plans the White House offered to go along with the speech. You’ll find them here.

But once the speech is over, what happens. Barack Obama goes back to watching, apparently helpless, as congressional Democrats make poison mincemeat of his agenda while the American people despair over the gigantic bonfire of dollars being stoked in Washington. Wars rage and he shows little interest in them. He’s a terrific speaker, but he does not seem to be getting the hang of this governing thing.