Recently, President Barack Obama has been widely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for failures in his economic policy, with claims that he isn’t liberal enough. He is too soft on banks, the stimulus was too small, health care was a bust, he couldn’t even reach across the aisle.

But what exactly is Obama doing that isn’t working?

What many seem to overlook is Obama’s failure on multiple occasions to effectively communicate his policy to the American people. Yes, Obama’s legislation is not without flaws. But in most cases, it is not his policy itself that isn’t doing its job. Obama’s problem lies in his failure to correctly inform American citizens of the action he took in the face of economic crisis.

With this said, let’s look at the biggest component of Obama’s economic policy thus far: the stimulus package.

Obama’s largest criticism from the left is that his stimulus package should have been larger. Indeed, a bigger stimulus was essential for faster economic recovery, but it would not have been politically feasible. As I recall, Obama had a hard enough time getting a $787 billion stimulus package through Congress. How would he have found the support for an even larger plan?

The stimulus package, believe it or not, has helped. Without it, the unemployment rate would be even higher than it is now. But why haven’t the American people seen progress?

Ironically, the political moves our president has made — the stimulus package, the increase in government debt, the bailout of the auto industry (all of which were critical to averting a full-scale economic depression) — are actually responsible for his low poll numbers.

The fact is, housing prices have stabilized, the stock market has mobilized, capital markets are operating normally again and 95 percent of American working class families have received $116 billion in tax cuts. But all Americans seem to see is “poor” fiscal policy and an unemployment rate at a disheartening 9.6 percent. So what’s missing?

Communication. In the National Journal, Obama himself said his policy achievements were “a lot for me to be able to communicate effectively to the public in any coherent way.”

But this is no excuse. As much as I believe Obama has improved the disastrous state of the economy, he has undoubtedly neglected a major presidential responsibility: effective communication to the public. Once Obama starts coherently informing us of his political initiatives, he will be in much better shape with the American people.