David Brooks is not a bold thinker

What passes for criticism in a NYT Op-Ed column left me speechless. David Brooks actually writes that after pulling off amazing things in the first 16 months, Obama's become bogged down. The oil spill is a turning point. Huh? No Mr. Brooks, Obama cooked his goose by attempting to "fundamentally transform the country." His campaign promise.

• The health care bill was agonizing, and he did that first instead of addressing the jobs problem.
• It barely squeaked through with no one knowing what was in it, and even with all the MSM like NYT, WaPo and WSJ rooting for it, and his deadly monotonous speeches, it has turned out to be a bust with 70% of American voters not wanting it.
• He dawdled and crept along on the Afghanistan decision last summer, and God only knows how much that set a resolution back. I think he's addressed the war maybe three times in 16 months.
• His national security, anti-terrorism plan has become a joke because all he knows how to do is rename the problem so that the words, Muslim, Islam, jihad and terrorist don't appear in any media reports.
• He criticizes the Arizona SB1070 without ever having read the bill--a more serious rerun of the
•  Gates/police problem last summer where he called out the police without ever learning the facts.
• The ARRA has done zip, nada, zilch in restoring the economy--we had loads of evidence from FDR in the 1930s that this government take over doesn't work, but he did it anyway.

Just where is the "bold movement" of which you wrote, Mr. Brooks?

"For the past 16 months he has been on nearly permanent offense, instigating action with the stimulus bill, Afghan policy, health care reform and the nearly complete financial reform. Whether you approve or not, this has been an era of bold movement.

But now the troops are exhausted, the country is anxious, the money is spent and the Democratic majorities are teetering. The remaining pieces of legislation, on immigration and energy, are going nowhere. (The decision to do health care before energy is now looking extremely unfortunate.) Meanwhile, the biggest problems are intractable. There’s no sign we will be successful in preventing a nuclear Iran. Especially after Monday’s events, there’s no chance of creating a breakthrough in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Unemployment will not be coming down soon. The long-term fiscal crisis won’t be addressed soon either."

Op-Ed Columnist - The Oil Plume - NYTimes.com