Sobering it is–and amusing, too–that the only other politician to take it to Obama is another who cannot challenge for American office. I speak of Angela Merkel–SuperFrau–who is not only not in thrall to the Great Wordsmith, but is offended by his ideas and actions, and indignant that she, too, should be expected to genuflect at the altar. She has spoken her mind on Obama’s reckless stimulus, and on his hectoring insistence that others beggar themselves as Americans are now doing, that others see him as his faithful see him–as the man who has a monopoly on deliverance.

Dick Cheney and Angela Merkel. Two politicians not without their own flaws, their own dogma, their own excess of self-belief . Dick Cheney and Angela Merkel. Two politicians who go where others fear to tread.