OBAMA'S MIND – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:  A number of columns recently, some by liberals, have questioned the way Obama views things.  The most talked about was a stunning Washington Post editorial asserting that the president lives in a fantasy world.  Now Ron Fournier of National Journal says that Obama is blinded by righteousness: 

Days before Vladimir Putin's troops invaded Ukraine, National Security Adviser Susan Rice dismissed suggestions that Russia was about to pounce. "It's in nobody's interest," she said. Days later, President Obama declared the invasion to be illegal. "In 2014," he said, "we are well beyond the days when borders can be drawn over the heads of democratic leaders."

Two things strike me about those quotes. First, they were right. From the viewpoint of the United States and its allies, invading Crimea made no sense, legally or strategically. Second, it didn't matter: Putin plays by his own set of rules, and it's dangerously naive not to realize that.

Ukraine is illustrative of a flaw in Obama's worldview that consistently undermines his agenda, both foreign and domestic. He thinks being right is good enough. From fights with Congress over the federal budget and his nominations, to gun control, immigration reform, health care, and Syria, the president displays tunnel-vision conviction, an almost blinding righteousness. I'm right. They're wrong. Why isn't that enough?

With such certitude, Obama finds it hard to see why anybody would oppose him, which makes it almost impossible to earn new allies. He's also slow to realize when some fault lies with him. The result is Obama's legacy of "Right, but …" moments.

COMMENT:  Well said.  Obama is not a president.  He's an observer.  He doesn't know how to do things.  He might have been happier as an editorial writer on a newspaper.  And we'll have him for three more years.

March 10, 2014