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It’s been quite a July for David Brooks.
It started with a bang three weeks ago with an important column that received (and deserved) an enormous amount of attention. The New York Times columnist offered a scathing perspective on congressional Republicans’ tactics, and questioned whether GOP officials are even “fit to govern.”
It continued last week, with Brooks, still angry at GOP madness, condemning the party for deliberately ignoring an opportunity to do something meaningful on debt reduction. The columnist was especially critical of the party’s unyielding right wing: “They believe that politics is a cataclysmic struggle. They believe that if they can remain pure in their faith then someday their party will win a total and permanent victory over its foes. They believe they are Gods of the New Dawn.”
I’d actually started to think that Republican extremism had finally pushed Brooks away. He certainly seemed to be disgusted with the party’s radicalism.
Alas, it was a short-lived flirtation with reality. Brooks argued today that the debt-reduction Grand Bargain he wants died, in part because “the president lost his cool.”
[T]here has been an outbreak of sanity since Congress took control [of the search for a solution to the debt-ceiling crisis]…. This should be a humbling moment for the White House, and maybe a learning experience. There are other people who have been around Washington a long time. They know how to play this game.
I don’t know what process Brooks is watching, but it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the real one. It’s not even the process Brooks saw as recently as last week, when he realized GOP insanity was pushing us closer to a catastrophe, before he reverted to form and decided President Obama didn’t negotiate in a way that appealed to Republicans’ sensibilities.
I kind of liked Brooks’ new-found appreciation for reality in recent weeks. It was bound to disappear eventually, but it’s still sad to see it go so quickly.
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Holmes on July 26, 2011 11:32 AM:
Shorter Brooks: Obama was uppity.
c u n d gulag on July 26, 2011 11:35 AM:
Uhm, what changed, Mr. Brooks?
You've concluded that DC's not the Presidents place to trash?
Let the old white guy's do it, eh? Sure, sure... They know best.
"There are other people who have been around Washington a long time. They know how to play this game."
Also, too - wait!
Aren't they the same motherf*ckers who got us into this mess in the first place, Dave?
delNorte on July 26, 2011 11:40 AM:
Wow, there's a lot of dissing of the President in those two sentences:
1. "[T]here has been an outbreak of sanity since Congress took control"
Subtext: the President is insane and out of control
2. "This should be a humbling moment for the White House..."
Subtext: the President is arrogant
3. "...and maybe a learning experience."
Subtext: the President is ignorant
4. "There are other people who have been around Washington a long time."
Subtext: the President is inexperienced
5. "They know how to play this game."
Subtext: the President is bush league
RP on July 26, 2011 11:44 AM:
Bobo's cut short his off-reservation adventure when he discovered a horse head in his bed.
I wonder who delivered it?
walt on July 26, 2011 11:51 AM:
Brooks is a touchy-feely Neocon whose manner is to convince mainstream Americans that not all conservatives are crazy. He'll even venture an occasional opinion critical of right-wing zealots. But his paymasters are not college professors in tweed but AEI types in full battle gear. Brooks has an important position in our national conversation because he confirms as legitimate the values and cognitive style of the decadent empire. Other than that, he's Polonius.
berttheclock on July 26, 2011 11:53 AM:
Obama will, undoubtedly, rise in the estimation of wishy-washy Brooks, when, he steps up, next time, to the lectern and begins with crooning to the RepuGs,"Please, mister, please, don't play B-17".
Bolan on July 26, 2011 11:55 AM:
Brooks is still miffed that he soiled himself on Friday before appearing with Mark Shields on Newshour.
Homer on July 26, 2011 11:57 AM:
RP - that was my thought as well: somebody "got to" Brooks.
I also thought that it seemed like nobody returned Brooks' phone calls to the WH and so this was him taking a shot at them for that.
delNorte - perfect analysis of the subtext.
Stevie B - I agree: reading Brooks makes me wonder what exactly he's been watching over the past few weeks. He's entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.
Homer
Kane on July 26, 2011 12:02 PM:
"We have now run out of time. I’ve told Speaker Boehner. I’ve told Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. I’ve told Harry Reid. And I’ve told Mitch McConnell; I want them here at eleven o’clock tomorrow. We have run out of time, and they are going to have to explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default. And they can come up with any plans that they want and bring them up here and we will work on them."
This statement by President Obama, is what offended David Brooks. Last Friday on PBS Shield & Brooks, David Brooks said that while he agreed with the substance of what the president had said in the news conference, he was taken aback by Obama's "tone" of treating members of congress like kindergartners and children. He added, that even if you agree with someone on the substance, "it's kind of hard to go along with someone who is insulting you all the time."
I saw nothing wrong with Obama's tone. And I heard no insults from the president or treating people like kindergartners or children. I see a president who understands the seriousness of the problem and who is calling on the leadership of both parties to act responsibly.
If Obama had not summoned the leadership to the White House, Brooks would be accusing him of not leading. It's rather disingenuous and intellectually dishonest, but it's convenient how that works out where either way he can criticize the president.
ManOutOfTime on July 26, 2011 12:02 PM:
David Brooks, once again the living proof and embodiment of the "brocken clock is right twice a day' adage.
SteveT on July 26, 2011 12:03 PM:
I have a fantasy where Obama calls all the Inside-the-Beltway pundits and "expert" talking heads together in a large room for a televised round-table discussion.
When Obama gets to the lectern he says, "Everyone who said the Bush tax cuts would bring in a new era of prosperity, please stand up. You can leave now."
There would be some objections and some denials. But Obama would point to a monitor beside the lectern, and one-by-one, videos of pundits or "experts" declaring their support for Bush's tax cuts would be played by aides and the guilty would slink away.
When everyone was settled again, Obama would say ,"Everyone who said back at the beginning of 2007 that there wasn't a housing bubble, please stand up. You can leave now." He would add, "If you're not sure what you said back then, we can go to the tape."
After a few more videos and a few more individuals leaving, Obama would say, "Everyone who said back in June of 2007 that there wouldn't be a recession, please stand up. You can leave now."
No one would make objections and by the time everyone who stood had left, the room would be nearly empty. Even Obama's set of Economic advisers would be gone. Obama would say to the two dozen or so people remaining, "Okay, let's roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can fix this thing."
Like I said, just a fantasy.
Josef K on July 26, 2011 12:05 PM:
It was the "recent outbreak of sanity" schtick that gets me.
I'm starting to appreciate why ordinary people are going postal or joining militia movements.
JS on July 26, 2011 12:05 PM:
Even David Frum last night was whining about the 'President being more concerned over his re-election' talking point, rather than take Boehner to task for any of his lies.
It's like these guys have suddenly woke up to the reality that the Tea Party fever isn't going to break, the economy is going into the abyss, and they need to worry about their sinecures on the wingnut welfare line.
SYSPROG on July 26, 2011 12:06 PM:
Really David? The 'old white guys' have the 'experience'? It looks to me that the freshman tea baggers are running this debate right now. The 'old white guys' don't seem to be able to rein them in.
bob h on July 26, 2011 12:18 PM:
Yes, the knee-cappers got to him. What I hear these days from Boehner and McConnell doesn't sound like an outbreak of sanity to me; just the same old same old.
Dan on July 26, 2011 12:27 PM:
David Brooks wrote a column after the 2010 election deriding Dems for focusing on the tea-partiers - saying that they were a meaningless fringe, and what really mattered were the responsible GOPers that were elected. In other words, it was the Dems fault for saying the tea-party people would have an impact, because they really wouldn't.
Now David Brooks is upset at the Republican party because of the tea party people - the very ones he said wouldn't matter?
Remind me why we listen to these people?
JW on July 26, 2011 12:31 PM:
Bobo's behavior was like that of Woody Allen in one of his movies.
Trailed by two big bikers as he walked his girlfriend out of a roadside bar, one of them laid hands on her and said to come with them for a good time. At which Allen spun and snarled, "Get your hands off her".
That was Brooks three weeks ago.
Immediately, though, Allen let out a high pitched giggle and babbled, "Did I say that"?
That's Brooks most recent column.
rob on July 26, 2011 12:42 PM:
He probably got a good talking to or maybe a job offer to take over a significant piece of Murdochs crumbling empire. leopards and people who sell their opinions for money don't really change their spots.
Squeaky McCrinkle on July 26, 2011 3:05 PM:
Three words: Leopard, spots, dickhead.
Al Swearengen on July 26, 2011 7:35 PM:
It'll be fun when the GOP takes us hostage over a gov't shutdown in a few months. Life in an Extortocracy!
John on July 26, 2011 9:25 PM:
Funny as it is to imagine that some thug from AEI or Rove's operation "got to" Brooks, I'd bet a hundred bucks the real explanation is a bit more pathetic: several of Brooks' wealthy, establishment friends (and occasional tennis buddies) probably called him up aghast, and explained in no uncertain terms that he'd better "get his head on straight" or he'd be ostracized from the D.C. beltway cocktail party circuit. Faced with this horrifying Sophie's Choice of using his NYTimes column to speak truth to power at a critical time for his country, or continue to mouth establishment platitudes and thus remain in good graces with "society," Brooks chose the latter. Hence, today's useless, falsehood-ridden column.
All the unemployed people in this country and just imagine what this tool makes a year.