Chris Matthews: Is Obama just too darned intellectual?

Believe it or not, he’s not just spinning here. He’s sincerely criticizing Obama for some of his dopier decisions lately; he just can’t help letting his admiration for The One get in the way and filter it as a matter of excess virtue. None of the problems he cites are necessarily — or actually — the product of too much deep thinkin’. Obama’s bow to Akihito was, in fact, stupid since it had the opposite intended effect. His deliberations on Afghanistan are fine, but should have been conducted six months ago given McChrystal’s warning that the war would be lost within a year. The KSM decision is dumb not only because it’ll give archterrorists a media platform (as Matthews himself acknowledges) but because it’s completely incoherent from the standpoint of due process. Obama’s problem isn’t that he’s too thoughtful, in other words; thoughtfulness is all to the good. It’s that he’s indecisive, slow to move on public priorities that don’t coincide with his agenda, and too eager to be liked abroad. A self-critical intellectual could correct all of that. How ’bout it, champ?

Needless to say, another reason for the “intellectual” framework here is, of course, as a counterpoint to Palin, who’s had a great week while the numbers for Einstein and his signature bill slip further into the toilet. There must be a unified field theory that explains both phenomena and, of course, makes the Democrat look as good as possible. Voila. Click the image to watch.

• Bobby Jindal: Paternalistic, big-government liberalism is the biggest loser here
• Chris Christie: “I’ll be here to welcome” Obama when he comes to tour the NJ coast again next week
• MSNBC consensus: Obama’s speech was historic, amazing, “one of the best of his presidency”

Blowback