Maureen Dowd's Sunday column is headlined Going Mad in Herds. Based on the title, I risked reading it, thinking it may be about the madness of the Mosque controversy or the "Obama is Muslim" poll, and not her usual "Obambi" crap. And yet, while she covers the Mosque etc., those things are framed by her usual nonsense -- revealing more about her own tortured psyche than any political point.
She is more damaging than Brooks and Douthat, who while they are world-class obfuscators and faux "reasonable conservatives" are at least identified as conservatives. Dowd is supposedly a "liberal," and with that label, does more damage than even the phony "center right" Brooks.
My comment to the Times is below:
Ms. Dowd cannot stop herself from belittling Democrats, including Obama. She recognizes that the Mosque "controversy" is completely mad, and yet she must use her cherished space to (falsely) say that Obama flipped on the Mosque issue. Then, she finishes with the absurd statement, "And nothing bums out a nation that blows with the wind like a self-appointed messiah who disappoints."
Exactly how is Obama a "self-appointed Messiah?" Because he ran a campaign that was inspirational and his message helped get him elected? And how has he "disappointed?" Ms.Dowd recognizes in this very op-ed that he entered office tied down by Bush, Wall St., wars and the economy. Has he "disappointed" or actually succeeded in the face of the very factors she cites earlier in the op-ed -- the "madness" of those who believe he is a Muslim; the religious nuts like Franklin Graham who stoke those lies. Financial reform, health care reform, ending the gag rule (I assume Ms. Dowd agrees with that), mean nothing in the face of Dowd's curious belief that Obama needs to do more to "get people to know him."
Dowd's column is often on the Times "most-emailed" list -- undoubtedly that's an important reason why they keep her. But what she is doing is using the Times valuable op-ed space to play out some of her own obvious psychological issues.
While gullible Americans may be "going mad in herds" Dowd long ago went individually made.
Fire Dowd Now, NYT