Obama's just too darned noble for a nasty city like D.C.

As a candidate for president, that disciplined, linear, conciliatory approach to life helped Barack Obama defeat the fractious campaigns of Hillary Clinton and John McCain. It was exactly the right temperament to help Americans avert a fiscal and emotional meltdown in the early days of the financial crisis.

But as the French say, we all have the faults of our virtues. In President Obama’s case, the highly organized defenses he developed as a result of his dysfunctional childhood may have left him ill-prepared to confront the more unruly forces of cynicism, egotism and self-interest that hold sway in Washington, on Wall Street and on the world stage…

On Afghanistan, the president believed he could conduct a thoughtful, confidential policy review to avoid the mistakes of Vietnam and Iraq. He didn’t bargain for the manipulative daily leaks, from generals and skeptical advisers alike, that limited his options and made his deliberation look like dithering.