Perhaps Brooks’s greatest apostasy was briefly falling for Obama, based on “interviews I had with him before he became the Messiah. I found him tremendously intelligent. I came away thinking, ‘Man, he agrees with everything I think.’ We talked about Burke and Niebuhr and all the philosophers I really like and he really likes.” Republican senators, Brooks said, “viciously pounded me” for his defection…
Within months, Brooks grew disillusioned, calling Obama a combination of “Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set” and “Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes.” But he was hardly a Republican cheerleader: Days before Obama picked his running mate, Brooks urged the choice of Joe Biden as an experienced if loudmouthed lawmaker.
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