Obama damns American people with faint praise

President Obama has given an interview to Rolling Stone Magazine (more evidence, if you had any doubt, that Obama is really cool). During the interview, he discussed his reading habits. It turns out that Obama reads every single New York Times columnist, and considers Paul Krugman “obviously one of the smartest economic reporters out there.” In addition, Obama reads Andrew Sullivan, and finds that he provides thoughtful analysis.

Obama also told Rolling Stone that “my confidence in the American people is stronger than it was when I came into office.” This amounts to damning the American people with faint praise.

Indeed, according to Jodi Kantor’s book, The Obamas, the president’s confidence in Americans remains low. Kantor writes that “there were many times the president seemed to be giving up on the public, too, convinced Americans would never understand his point of view…” (via The Campaign Spot).

Obama surely is right about this. The American people are quite unlikely ever to understand the point of view of a man who finds insight in Andrew Sullivan’s work and who considers Paul Krugman’s lefty editorializing to be stellar “economic reporting.”

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