That’s what Daniel Henninger calls Obama in his WSJ column today.
That’s putting it mildly.
Henninger’s topic is the way Obama almost invariably uses his speeches to vilify those who disagree with his ideas. Why does he do that? Well, it helps to rev up the voters he desperately wants in November, it gets reporters off of stories he doesn’t want written, such as why unemployment is staying high, and it fits in with his “community organizer” past, where going negative to smear opponents usually worked. But mostly, Henninger says, Obama does it because it’s what he likes to do.
I think that’s right. Obama doesn’t like intellectual arguments over policy, where he’s no match for people who think seriously about consequences. He doesn’t think anyone should question his Leninesque fantasies about the way to remake the nation and reacts by trying to besmirch and if possible silence the critics. Instead of trying to persuade people he’s doing good things, he instinctively reaches for the political equivalent of brass knuckles.
Henninger thinks that most people, aside from the hard-core Dem base that thrives on government largesse, will just become further alienated by this unpleasant side of the Dear Leader.
