It is comedy in a way.  Monty Python couldn't have written it better.  "It's not his fault!  He's in charge!!!"  That's been their line up until now.

Now he's FDR.

Okay.  Whatever.

But my guess is they'll return to the first line soon enough and claim that he's can't be Superman because he can't find a phone booth to change in in America anymore.

Come on...the most stringent and consumer-friendly and -protectionist provisions of FinReg were taken out of the bill...in much the same way that the best of the health whatever elements got stripped out.  Why?  Because the people Obama's been playing footsie with didn't want them; now there's some FDR-like leadership for you.

And then, there's the Cat Food Commission, conveniently stacked with the 14 votes - out of 18 - it will take to make recommendations to Congress for cutting the deficit - recommendations that won't be made until after the mid-term elections, so that (1) the recommendations and the vote will not factor into the elections, and (2) so that any lame duck member of Congress on his or her way out the door will have one last chance to stick it to the great unwashed.

For more Obama-approved leadership, check out David Dayen's piece on "America Speaks," the not-so-subtle propaganda effort headed by Peter G. Peterson:

The America Speaks meetings held in 19 cities across the country today, funded to the tune of $1 billion dollars by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, were a study in how subtle messaging and deficit hyping can mold and shape opinions that move the public toward right-wing solutions about slashing social spending. Despite an insistence of neutrality, organizers of this series of town hall meetings allowed their agenda to show through, particularly in their presentation of options for how to deal with the nation's fiscal future. But attendees in Los Angeles and around the country weren't totally buying it in the first half of the meeting.

[snip]

America Speaks has the support of a number of Washington-based organizations, and they claim to represent a broad spectrum of ideological interests. But the main funder is Pete Peterson, who has waged a decades-long effort to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And this emphasis was certainly reflected in the event today.

One interesting note for those who think Obama shouldn't be velcroed to Pete Peterson: Peterson's foundation is providing the funding for the deficit (Cat Food) commission staff.

If $1 billion dollars is being spent on this "advocacy group," and the head of the Foundation which is spending that money is also funding the staff of the Cat Food Commission, if one of the co-chairs of the commission - Alan Simpson - is also a big detractor of Medicare and Social Security, can anyone make a convincing argument that the fix isn't in?  This is Obama's commission, so isn't it fair to believe that this is also Obama's agenda?

I'm pretty sure that FDR is rolling in his grave at top speed.

Hey, if you're on the side of Corporate America, if you think the sick, the disabled, the poor and the elderly are living the sweet life on your dime and don't deserve help, if you think preventive detention makes sense, think privacy is only for people who have something to hide, and think women really would be happier barefoot and pregnant, then I guess Obama's everything you hoped he would be - and more.

Moreover, Rich reminds his readers that then uncelebrated reporters such as Woodward and Bernstein and Seymour Hersh brought the unvarnished truth to their work.  Since lunching with the president on June 17 at the White House, it has been interesting to watch for tamping down of some of the Obama administration criticisms by attendees, Rachel Maddow, Gail Collins and Eugene Robinson.  N