Who said it?

We wanted someone smart to gather a bunch of smart people around him to get us out of this fix. But Mr. Obama’s egghead manner has failed to soothe a nation with the jits. Maybe he has been so intent on avoiding the stereotype of the Angry Black Man, as he wrote in his memoir, that it’s hard for him to connect with and articulate public anger about our diminishment.

Though he demonstrated in the campaign that he has a rare gift for inspiring the country with new belief in itself, Mr. Obama has not yet captured either the grit the moment requires or the fury it provokes. He has not explained in a compelling way why Americans who followed the rules need to sacrifice more to help those who flouted the rules.

That is why the CNBC reporter Rick Santelli struck a populist nerve with his screed about the unfairness of responsible homeowners picking up the tab for irresponsible homeowners — following the unfairness of taxpayers who are losing jobs, homes and savings propping up the exact same bankers and carmakers whose greed and myopia caused the economy to crash.

He spoke for those who want a pound of flesh. With the Wall Street bailout, Mr. Obama at least gave bankers a bit of the belt, and capped their pay. But homebuyers who wanted more than they could afford seem to be getting a free ride.

Yet Obama is oozing empathy compared with his attorney general, who last week called us “a nation of cowards” about race.

Eric Holder, who showed precious little bravery in standing up to Clinton on a pardon for the scoundrel Marc Rich, is wrong. We have just inaugurated a black president who installed a black attorney general.

We need leaders to help us through our crises, not provide us with crude evaluations of our character. And we don’t need sermons from liberal virtuecrats, anymore than from conservative virtuecrats.

In the middle of all the Heimlich maneuvers required now — for the economy, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, health care, the environment and education — we don’t need a Jackson/Sharpton-style lecture on race. Barack Obama’s election was supposed to get us past that.

- Maureen Dowd

Yea... Maureen Dowd in a moment of lucidity.

Trust me, it won't last but enjoy it nevertheless.  Unless you're an Obamaton.

Then gnash those teeth and tear open them robes.  You've just read some unvarnished truth from someone who usually wouldn't know truth if it snuck up and bit her in the behind.

Proving again that broken clocks do get the time right twice a day.

Comments

[Morgan K Freeberg]

Wow, I'm speechless. Just don't know what to say.

You know...you take a cruise straight out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When you're right over the Mariana Trench, walk out on Promenade Deck with a bowling ball. Head on over to the railing and heave that sucker over the side.

It won't descend nearly as fast, or nearly as far, as Obama's rep. We're already at the point where, when the sound on the TV is turned off and you see him talking, you kinda wanna leave it muted, y'know? And two months ago he was the Angel of Hopey Changey Goodness. His slobbering fans are starting to notice it all by themselves. They're too depressed to wait until they're behind closed soundproof doors.

[Morgan K Freeberg]

Ah, I hate it when I mess this stuff up.

The Mariana Trench is not under the Atlantic Ocean.

It's under the Specific Ocean. There. Now it's all good.

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

Man, this didn't take long. I do remember a few of us here predicting this and yes, I for one am enjoying bit of shaden...ah, shottenhom...ah, whatever, watching him sink fast down to the Mariana Stench ;)

[Mommynator]

Too bad they couldn't have woken up before the election.

But hopefully this means another one-termer.

[gcw]

I think what's ironic is that MD probably doesn't even realize the source of her outrage: her wholehearted embrace of BHO as The Chosen One during the campaign. So she's venting on behalf of all us downtrodden middle class peons. That's nice of her.