David Brooks of The New York Times goes looking for a politician with the dignity of George Washington, and thinks he's found him in Barack Obama.
What Brooks neglects to notice in his search for a "dignity code" in the recent press orgies concerning such lesser individuals as Mark Sanford, Michael Jackson, and Sarah Palin (these are Brooks' examples), is that our Presidents for the most part have been men of dignity, the glaring exception being the buffoonish Bill Clinton. Certainly George W. Bush brought quiet dignity to the White House, turning the other cheek to attacks to such an extent that it actually harmed his presidency.
Brooks doesn't seem to realize that Obama is able to display a dignified front to the world because he is confronted not by a hostile press, but an adoring and even sycophantic one. Indeed, Obama has shown a testiness about the Fox News Channel, for example, that belies his reputation for coolness and dignity; again, his elevation of Rush Limbaugh to Presidential level by name-checking him as a public enemy also shows Obama's basic pettiness and inclination for Nixonian enemies' lists.
Dignified, Mr. Brooks? Put President Obama under the same unremitting MSM hostility that President Bush cheerfully withstood and let's see how dignified he remains.
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