David Brooks Falls Out of Love

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not all love and roses and smooches and kisses out there for Obama. Last night on PBS, Charlie Rose, he spoke with the New York Times columnist David Brooks about Obama and the lack of entitlement reform in his budget. And, remember, the media is eagerly watching to see if Republicans fall into a trap set by Obama. They’re eagerly hoping that Boehner and the Republicans, Bachmann and the bunch embarrass themselves. Obama might have outsmarted them. Obama didn’t mention entitlement reform in his budget, no, he set a trap, he wants the Republicans to go first, he wants the Republicans to get tripped up, he wants the Republicans to talk about cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, all of these things.

But there are voices from the intelligentsia, the elitists, the smartest people in our country in the media. Charlie Rose and David Brooks are terribly disappointed over this, devastated, in fact. They thought Obama was made of much more. They thought Obama was a leader. They thought Obama would take the political capital of The Messiah status that he held and attack all of these terrible things that need to be attacked if we are to become solvent. And when he didn’t they shared their misery with each other on the TV set of the Charlie Rose Show. Charlie Rose said, ‘It used to be said in this White House there was a great debate between on the one hand David Axelrod and the political people and other people, Larry Summers. What does this say about his instinct for leadership?’

BROOKS: You know I have to say I’m disappointed. He comes in promising hope and change —

ROSE: Right.

BROOKS: — and boldness. This is not change. This is not boldness. And it’s not that imaginative. He’s got a lot of really smart people who have spent their lives creating creative proposals to try out. Where is all that stuff here? It’s not there. Where’s the vision?

RUSH: (sigh) Mr. Brooks. Where’s the crease in his pants, remember? Really dazzled by the crease in his pants at that conservative dinner at George Will’s house. Brooks: ‘I have to say I’m disappointed. He comes in promising hope and change, and boldness. This is not change. This is not bold. It’s not imaginative. He’s got really smart people, where are they?’ See, these are the smart people. They knew Obama was bold, they knew, they just knew, hope and change, they knew it was gonna happen. Where is it? Where is it? They ridiculed people like me for saying this is all phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller. There’s no boldness. There’s no hope and change. There’s nothing new here. He’s a liberal! I and others like me — well, there’s nobody else like me — I and others who agree with me were just reamed for being critical of Obama. Charlie Rose said, ‘But you believe he has the ideas and he’s simply being co-opted by the politics? Or do you believe he doesn’t really have a sense of how to get there?’

BROOKS: Well, I think, a, he’s had a hard time — like a lot of politicians — saying, ‘What’s my vision of America in 2050?’ He says, ‘I’m going to build a new foundation.’ A new foundation for what? They really should bring in some outside people to give him some vision.

RUSH: Bring in outside people to give him some vision. He had the vision. I thought he was the sole owner of the vision. And now Obama needs outside help. Now, these guys told us Obama was unlike anything we’d ever seen before. Finally this exchange.

ROSE: I was reading about what books he was taking off to Hawaii for the Christmas vacation. He took Clinton and Taylor Branch and he took Reagan and Lou Cannon. I was saying I wish I could ask David at this time what would he recommend for the reading list…

BROOKS: Yeah. (laughing)

ROSE: … of this President at this time.

BROOKS: I would not recommend Reagan. This sort of bugs me. He’s always had this thing for Reagan. He is different than Reagan. I’d want him to take a book about the first Bush administration, H.W. Bush, because I think in some ways he has something in common with Bush and James Baker. Sort of pragmatic guys, sort of level headed, sort of an aversion to big ideology.

RUSH: An aversion to big ideology. (laughing) He’s upset. Brooks said the era of Reagan is over, and there’s Obama reading about Reagan and Brooks is terrified. Brooks is just let down. He had such high hopes for this young man-child. Reality, it bites. It bites deep. Reality draws blood when it bites you in the butt, and that’s not a pleasant place to bleed.