Maureen Dowd, "Likability Index": But What Happens When the Bubble Bursts?

As acknowledged by Maureen Dowd in her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Likability Index" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/dowd-likability-index.html), Obama has "lost the thread of his narrative of hope and change," yet he has retained his "likability." In fact, he has lost far more than this narrative, and his sustained popularity is little less than a marketing miracle.

Consider how someone like Obama, who was labeled by Dowd in her prior op-ed an "ungrateful president" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/maureen-dowd-ungrateful-president-does.html), and who clearly suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder, can still find favor with a majority of Americans.

Even more remarkable, Obama gets good marks from most Americans for his foreign policy. Consider the price being paid by the US for Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan; his alienation of Poland, the Czech Republic and a host of other allies; his refusal to honor his promise to acknowledge Armenian genocide; his profound friendship with Turkey's Erdogan who has thrown a record number of journalists into prison; his failed overtures to tyrannical Iran and Syria which his administration deemed "misunderstood"; his demeaning bow to Saudi King Abdullah; his kowtowing to China notwithstanding devastating human rights abuses in that country; his ejection of the Dalai Lama out of a garbage strewn side door of the White House; his joyous embraces with Chavez and Qaddafi; his attempts to mollify Russia's Putin without receiving anything in return; and the list continues ad infinitum.

And then there is that minor matter involving an imminent US bankruptcy (yeah, I know, Krugman, the US can simply continue printing money). As observed by James Pethokoukis in an article in Commentary entitled "Ryan's Hope" (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/ryans-hope/):

"In 2008, publicly held debt as a share of GDP was 41 percent. The Congressional Budget Office’s best guess is that it will be 73 percent this year and 94 percent by 2022—with annual budget deficits averaging $1.1 trillion for the next decade. And it is in 2022 that Medicare really starts to contribute to our fiscal instability."

Fiscal instability? Why should this matter as long as Obama remains likable.

Dowd asks, "Will Mitt’s new mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, make his run more personable?" I doubt it. You see, we all want the best medical treatment in the world at no added cost, college loans which don't need to be repaid, and job training for jobs that don't exist.

Well, the drunken debauchery is going to end, sooner rather than later, and at that time it may be too late for America to swallow the foul tasting medicine being served up by Paul Ryan.