David Brooks to Obama: Chill Out

In the mind of New York Times wise man David Brooks, President Obama and the congressmen he’s negotiating with are equally to blame for the diplomatic trip and fall in last week’s federal deficit talks.

Things might have gone better, Brooks explains, if Obama would simply have remained calm after the display of Republican intransigence Friday, instead of giving clear expression to his frustrations. In Washington, our leaders are expected to talk like gentlemen, even if they don’t act like them. –ARK

David Brooks in The New York Times:

… the dream of a Grand Bargain died Friday evening for three reasons.

… Third, the president lost his cool. Obama never should have gone in front of the cameras just minutes after the talks faltered Friday evening. His appearance was suffused with that “I’m the only mature person in Washington” condescension that drives everybody else crazy. Obama lectured the leaders of the House and Senate in the sort of patronizing tone that a junior high principal might use with immature delinquents. He talked about unreturned phone calls and being left at the altar, personalizing the issue like a spurned prom date.

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