Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Columnist and The President

Sometimes when I read David Brooks' column, I feel like I'm reading a personal message between him and Obama. Brooks clearly loves Obama, but he's also always ready to diagnose the problem, as he did in today's New York Times. There he wrote:

"Driven by circumstances and self-confidence, the president has made himself the star performer in the national drama."

By taking the lead, Brooks argues, Obama has sparked the distrust of the American people. Of course, over the summer all we heard was that Obama wasn't out front enough on health care, he wasn't using his star power to make the sell. Brooks is probably right about the current state of presidential appeal, but, clearly, for Obama it's damned if you do, damned if you don't.

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