As Ryan wrote, proving that a problem is not hard is not easy.
Let $Q$ be a problem in a complexity class $X$ and $S$ is closed w.r.t. $\leq$ reductions.
Proving that $Q$ is not $X$-hard w.r.t. $\leq$ is equivalent to separating the complexity class obtained by taking closure of $Q$ w.r.t. $\leq$. Now, if $Q$ is hard for another class $Y$ w.r.t. $\leq$, then it means separating $Y$ from $X$. As you know, there aren't many separation results.
In your case, $X = \mathsf{PSpace}$, $\leq = \leq^\mathsf{P}_m$, and $Y=\mathsf{P}$.
Because we can't prove such results at the moment (with the possible exception of Ryan :), in place of proving that $Q$ is not $X$-hard, we show that it is in a complexity class that is believed to be smaller than $X$.
For example, if you show that $\mathrm{Th}_\exists(\mathbb{R,+,\times,0,1})$ is in $\mathsf{PH}$, then it will be taken as a strong evidence for $Q$ not being $X$-hard. (In logicians' language, if you can't prove an unconditional result, try proving a conditional one assuming a hard to prove but widely believed statement like $\mathsf{P}\neq\mathsf{PSpace}$).