Pirate's Cove

At least with Bush 43, we understood that the NY Times editorialists and columnists turned on him simply because he was a Republican. With Barack H. Obama, they have been turning on him because he is an incompetent hack. Starting with Bob Herbert

How loud do the alarms have to get? There is an economic emergency in the country with millions upon millions of Americans riddled with fear and anxiety as they struggle with long-term joblessness, home foreclosures, personal bankruptcies and dwindling opportunities for themselves and their children.

The door is being slammed on the American dream and the politicians, including the president and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, seem not just helpless to deal with the crisis, but completely out of touch with the hardships that have fallen on so many.

Usually, after a start like that, a NY Times op-ed writer will then go on to provide advice to Democrats. Herbert continues to abuse Obama and the Donkeys in paragraph after paragraph for their sheer incompetence. Near the end, he even writes about them “What we’ll get instead is rhetoric. It’s cheap, so we can expect a lot of it.” How true.

On to Frank Rich. After first telling us that the Massachusetts special election was not a referendum on Obama and Democrat policies (a poll would say otherwise, as would the huge number of TEA Party protesters), he goes on to somewhat politely tell us that Obama is incompetent and no leader

And yet Tuesday’s special election was a dire omen for this White House. If the administration sticks to this trajectory, all bets are off for the political future of a president who rode into office blessed with more high hopes, good will and serious promise than any in modern memory. It’s time for him to stop deluding himself. Yes, last week’s political obituaries were ludicrously premature. Obama’s 50-ish percent first-anniversary approval rating matches not just Carter’s but Reagan’s. (Bushes 41 and 43 both skyrocketed in Year One.) Still, minor adjustments can’t right what’s wrong.

Obama’s plight has been unchanged for months. Neither in action nor in message is he in front of the anger roiling a country where high unemployment remains unchecked and spiraling foreclosures are demolishing the bedrock American dream of home ownership. The president is no longer seen as a savior but as a captive of the interests who ginned up the mess and still profit, hugely, from it.

See, Frank, one the problems is that the system is not set up to elect a savior, but a leader. We aren’t looking for a TV evangelist or snake charmer, who is going to preach to us and rile us up, much like happened at the church Obama attended for 20 years, but someone with leadership skills and a leader temperament. Good will and high hopes obviously do not translate into leadership and sound policies. If all Obama has left is anger at American institutions and the Americans who work for them, then, perhaps he is working at the wrong business. Demonizing the people who are party of your organization is generally not a very good idea. As Ace wrote, he cannot be the anti-Christ, because Satan wouldn’t be such a f*** up.

BTW, both Rich and Herbert smack Obama around for his feckless and irresponsible health care overhaul plans and involvement.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU