Los Angeles Times, please define “could be portrayed”

This is from the paper's A1 news article about the Obama/Cheney speeches yesterday [emphasis added]:

Obama enjoys broad popularity, even on the national security issues that have long vexed his party. But his lengthy address, in which he conceded that his policies were still evolving, laid out a mixed approach that could be portrayed as squishy.

Portrayed that way by whom? By reporters for the LA Times, of course.