Obama's Secret Weapon: Dullness

Julian Sanchez expected to turn on Obama long ago but hasn't:

I pull up my feed reader in the morning and get the political news of the day as seen through the prism of two-party political conflict. These fall into two central categories. First, there are issues where Obama is only marginally more sane than Bush, but conservatives are outraged that lip service is being paid to sanity. Second, there are issues where Democrats are grinding along with some well-intentioned but probably harmful plan, and the Republican response is shrill, dishonest, offensive, andif those failflat out psychotic. The latter end up grabbing my attention and provoking me to respond.

His new promise to himself:

[W]hile I know I won’t be able to entirely restrain myself, I’m going to make a conscious effort to pay attention to actual policy developments rather than the daily rage against the dying of the right.

I feel exactly the same way. But the saner foreign policy and return of the rule of law keeps me going. And the simple fact of what hasn't happened yet - a second Great Depression. For me, it will come down to entitlement spending and getting out of Iraq. If he cannot make real headway on either, and I fear he won't, he's in trouble.

(Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty.)

--- AS