THE UPSIDE FOR THE UR...:

Simon and Garfunkel in the White House (Frank Schell, December 17, 2010, Chicago Tribune)

But we should not be surprised by the president's inability to define himself. This is the same man who as senator did not endorse the Iraqi troop surge but later as president sponsored an Afghan one. It is the same president who has personalized conflict with Republicans through righteous taunts, yet now genuflects to their new eminence and reluctantly endorses their conservative tax ideology as another form of stimulus. It is the same president who aligned himself with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, only to surrender the White House podium to the charismatic Bill Clinton, rush into the Republican tent for safety and excoriate his colleagues on the left for being "sanctimonious" and "purist." It is the same president who rejects American exceptionalism but embraces his own.

...is that he's done so little and remained so inchoate that he may even have time to define himself in a form acceptable to voters.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 19, 2010 8:22 AM