A Present--and Future--for Obama

During this worst year in memory, Americans failed Barack Obama as much as he disappointed us and, for the nation's future, the best present we can give ourselves is a gift of good will for an embattled President.

As he prepares to revamp his White House, Obama is still bedeviled by indignities no Leader of the Free World should bear. In a Maryland courtroom, there is a delivery of those Yuletide monstrosities nobody wants, nutty and hard to swallow, as fruitcake Birthers gather to support an Army officer's refusal to report to Afghanistan because he hasn't seen the President's birth certificate.

In Washington, there is similar reality as the lowest-rated Congress in history turns the tax deal for the superrich into a grab bag of pork, a reflection of how seriously lawmakers are devoted to cutting the deficit and stimulating the economy.

In foreign affairs, Tea Party clown Jim DeMint is holding up a vote on the START treaty to make the world safer by eating up lame-duck time with a forced reading of the bill.

To govern in partnership with buffoons like these, a President would have to be supernaturally wise, patient and manipulative to get anything done, and Obama has often conceded his own imperfections.

But compared to Congress, he is a political paragon and Democrats who disparage him now for failing to be a magician do so at their own risk--and the nation's.

It all brings back that old typing exercise, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party." And women and children as well, or what will be coming out of our keyboards for the new year will be gibberish of the worst kind.

Happy holidays to all, including Obama haters, and an open invitation to pour out your worst.

Update: The President gets one gift as the Senate votes to go ahead and debate the START treaty. Good to learn that trying to avoid blowing up the planet takes priority over Tea Party obstructionism.