Today I read something in our local newspaper that I never thought I would see:Thomas Friedman, lefty columnist for the exalted New York Times actually mildly criticized Barak Obama. He didn't mention him by name, but it's pretty apparent who he means. The headline for the story (not written by Friedman of course) is "U.S. needs adult leadership." The whole article is available on line of course at several different sites, but the portion I refer to is:"Right now we have an absence of inspirational leadership."

Friedman goes on to write, "We're in a once-a-century financial crisis, and yet we've actually decended into politics worse than usual. There don't seem to be any adults at the top - nobody acting larger than the moment, nobody being impelled by anthing deeper that the last news cycle. Instead, Congress is slapping together punitive tax laws overnight like some banana republic, our president is getting into trouble cracking jokes on Jay Leno comparing his bowling skills to those of a Special Olympian, and the opposition party's only priority is to deflate President Barak Obama's popularity."

I rarely agree with Friedman but I think he pretty well nails it in this column.

DougR