That's not what was said at all, actually. They repeatedly praised his swift action, the muscle he flexed with the Russian Parliament, etc, etc. Those are most certainly not things like "having a plan", they are aspects of his personal, dictatorial regime that were described positively.
These are all examples of people, while not liking Putin and strongly opposing his actions in Ukraine etc, wanting our President to stand up for our side instead of dithering, apologizing and generally looking like an amateur.
It's disingenuous to mischaracterize this as "love" for Putin.
But hey, since that's all you got I guess you gotta run with it. Otherwise, the focus swings back to Obama's performance. Can't have that, can you?
Fern
So the retreat is "we don't like what Putin does, just how he does it." Fair enough.
So what is Putin's style? Emotionally driven, over and overtly aggressive, ends justify the means, and as you praise, quick to action. Ego and pride dominates. Thinking with the gut.
No wonder W liked him, it's pretty much Bush's style.
Obama is/was calm, patient, almost clinical in his emotional response, and willing to take short term losses to achieve a larger goal.
Yet you don't see how the approach leads to different outcomes of different qualities?
Fine, Obama doesn't deliver that anger, passion and energy. But neither does he takes that to whip up nationalistic fervor and turn it to ill considered action, like invading Ukraine or Iraq, or pass laws to attack gays (Putin and Bush) and other weak groups in order to bolster themselves, torture, and the long list of other disgraces we could catalog.
That gut thinking has lead to ruin so many times I can't imagine why it should be admired in our leaders.
In the end, the patience of Obama and Merkel has beaten Putin down without dropping any bombs.