BIZARRE BARACK

Posted at 9:10 a.m. ET:

Is the pressure getting to President Obama already?  Joseph Curl, in The Washington Times, writes of some rather stressed-out behavior by the president, who hasn't had a great week:

President Obama, fresh off his first Washington apology tour, grew combative Wednesday, asserting that America voted for him, not the other guy, and demanding that lawmakers "put aside politics" -- well, Republican lawmakers, anyway.

Note to the president:  We know who won the election, but 46% of Americans voted for that other guy.  They expect some consideration as well.

A day before he headed to a luxury resort to meet behind closed doors with Democrats, the Harvard graduate lectured the less economically astute, ridiculing the Reaganomics Doctrine held dear by Republicans, who prefer tax cuts to new spending to bounce America out of its financial mess.

A luxury resort?  Is that the message the "change" president wants to send?  Do you get the feeling the train may be leaving the rails?

In the White House's Roosevelt Room, he told a Republican senator who opposed an element of the stimulus package that "I won. I will trump you on that."

Great diplomacy.   "I won, I won."  Maybe a lollipop would help.

Mr. Obama, beaten bloody for weeks over his nominations of high-powered lobbyists and tax scofflaws that have rapidly drained his political capital, is no longer making any pretense of seeking to change the tone of Washington, as he repeatedly vowed to do when campaigning.

Scratch one promise.  More to come.

While President Clinton's first trip as president was to Detroit, where he held a town hall meeting with average Americans to talk about how to fix the economy, and President Bush flew to Fort Stewart, Ga., to visit soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Division, Mr. Obama's first trip aboard Air Force One will take him to a luxury resort in Williamsburg.

If it's good enough for Chicago politicians, it should be good enough for the country.  Right?

"Well, I'd -- you know, I'd -- Williamsburg is -- has a lofty place in our country's history," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, when asked if there was any special significance to the president's choice.

The man can't be serious.  I mean, could he?

Democrats will ride together to the resort on a chartered Amtrak train at a cost to taxpayers of about $70,000, the Hill reported. Taxpayers will also foot the bill for security helicopters to fly above the train. The caucus will spend thousands: In 2003, for example, they spent $11,200 on food and $6,900 on entertainment, the paper said.

Just put a gun to your head and keep pulling the trigger.  This is unbelievable.

Just Tuesday, the president made the rounds on every TV network to apologize for abandoning what he called the highest ethical standards ever enacted in any administration. But living up to that pledge has been trying from the start, and the White House said on Wednesday that it fully expects to fail in the future to meet that threshold.

Watch us fail!  Watch us fail!  Boy, is this ever encouraging.

"Are there lessons learned here?" a reporter asked the spokesman Wednesday.

"Well, as I said - I mean, you know, we - the president didn't think that we were going to come in here and change everything about the way Washington worked in such a short period of time. You can rest assured that we understand that we've not yet marked off all of our to-dos."

Geez.

Fellas, you'd better sharpen up.

February 5, 2009.