Dean Broder's Latest Decree

David Broder declares that Obama is simply incapable of chewing gum and walking, and that his domestic agenda is dead thanks to Crotch Bomber, The Scariest Thing Ever.

The larger question is how this affects the long-term mindset and priorities of the new president. Before Sept. 11, Bush's agenda consisted largely of a set of tax cuts and an ambitious education program (No Child Left Behind), both of which were on their way to easy passage in a compliant Congress.

Obama, on the other hand, came into Christmas Day with an overloaded set of self-imposed tasks. He was winding down one inherited war in Iraq and expanding another one in Afghanistan. He was renegotiating our relations with other powers in the world and attempting to enlist their help in confronting outlaw regimes in Iran and North Korea. And simultaneously, at home, he was being pressed to rescue a badly wounded economy while lobbying a reluctant but allied Congress to pass controversial, ambitious changes in health care, climate control and financial regulation.

For Obama to establish a new priority would obviously be much more difficult than it appeared to be for Bush. And this new priority would be a much less comfortable fit for Obama than leading a war on terrorism was for Bush.

Nonetheless, events have their own logic. The Christmas plot appears to have shaken Obama like nothing else that happened in his first year. When he allowed the White House to quote his warning to his Cabinet colleagues that another "screw-up" like that could not be tolerated, he seemed to signal that his benign leadership style had reached its limits.

"Nonetheless, we expect Obama to completely drop this silly domestic agenda and instead to personally call up every American and to explain to them why Bush and Cheney were right, and that the only thing that matters now is saving America from Rough Men Intending To Alight Their Privates...and you will, of course, comply, Mr. Obama."

Such "soft bigotry of low expectations" wankery is Broder's hallmark these days.  How Broder equates Crotch Bomber with 9/11 is wankery requiring all new mathematical modeling to quantify it.  Exciting and new mathematics involving distributed computing arrays and waving dead chickens over the results.