At this point in the Obama presidency, even Democrats must be asking: Is he really this bad at politics? The list of miscalculations grows longer. To pass the stimulus package, the administration predicts 8 percent unemployment – a prediction that became an indictment. It pledges the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison – without a realistic plan to do so. It sends the president to secure the Chicago Olympics – and comes away empty-handed. It announces a “summer of recovery” – which becomes a source of ridicule. It unveils a Manhattan trial for Khalid Sheik Mohammed – which nearly every New York official promptly turns against. Press secretary Robert Gibbs picks fights with both conservative talk radio hosts and the “professional left” – which uniformly backfire. The president seems to endorse the Ground Zero mosque – before retreating 24 hours later. He suggests that Republicans are “enemies” of Latinos – apparently unable to distinguish between hardball and trash talk…

In the tax debate, Obama has proved a quarrelsome ally and a dismissive foe, generally dismayed by the grubby realities of politics. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Unfortunately, he seems to put just about everyone who disagrees with him in that category.