Great Minds Think Alike

There's a common theme running through recent political punditry, to wit: the lack of mature and effective leadership in the White House. Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal got it started with her observation of the contradiction inherent in obama's State of the Union speech. First was the acknowledgment that Washington is "a sick and broken place:" a black hole where good ideas, good intentions, and good tax dollars go to die. This is something that most Americans, regardless of political philosophy, agree on.

The contradiction occurs when, notwithstanding the foregoing, obama continues to insist that Washington is the solution to all our problems. How in the name of all that's holy can the institutionalized train wreck that is the federal government fix what's wrong with this country, when it is the source of most of the tribulations we must endure?

It brings to mind Homer Simpson's classic toast: "Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

Noonan concludes by quoting a FOB (Friend of Barack):

"To heal our country we need to get the arrogance out of the White House and the elitists out of the Congress. We need tough love. We need a real adult in the White House because we don't have adults in the Congress."

Remember, this is a friend of obama speaking, not one of his detractors.

Even the mainstream media is echoing the call for adult leadership in the White House. Rick Klein of ABC News plaintively asks "… doesn’t someone have to be the grown-up around here?"

Others are going beyond the advice to grow up and imploring obama to "man up." Beg, borrow, or steal a pair of cojones and show some leadership. Rein in Pelosi and her pack of congressional dogs. If you can't control your own party, how the hell do you expect to have any influence over the rest of the country? As David Reilly put it, "Obama’s lack of resolve even makes comparisons to Carter seem charitable."

Finally, we have observations that point out a worrisome and growing "reality gap" between obama-world and the world the rest of us live in. One disturbing / alarming / shocking / terrifying / insert-your-own-adjective-here indication is obama's revealing insight on the Israeli-Arab conflict: "This is just really hard. This is as intractable a problem as you get."

Really? You're just now noticing that? Are you really that ignorant, or did you think that you're so gifted, so talented, so spectacularly better than anyone else in history that you can succeed in bringing peace to a region where they've been at each others throats since Biblical times? My God, what unfathomable arrogance.

As Thomas Paine wrote about John Adams:

“It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt.”

Sound like anyone we know...?