Rant time:
Flipping between the pundits this morning in a desperate, futile attempt to find someone who would not simply be repeating the incredibly shallow, conventional wisdom, I kept hearing that all of the problems in the universe were attributable to Obama's inability or unwillingness to schmooze.
In fact, many of the pundits at CBS, ABC and NBC often went further, saying that Obama is embarrassing the GOP and violating the "basic rule" of negotiating that says that you must allow your adversary some kind of "face-saving" fall-back position.
Good fuckin grief.
Just once, I wish the talking heads would acknowledge the following:
(1) By historical standards, Obama has been very successful in terms of passing significant legislation. In other words, the actual substantive results prove that there is no stylistic problem.
(2) There is not a scintilla of evidence that any Republican in the Senate or House would have changed their behavior had Obama only been nicer to them.
(3) The only reason that the GOP looks bad, is looking worse all the time and may have no way of saving face, is because they are stark raving lunatics.
Rant over.