What we puny presidential tail-wagging Pomeranians need right now is something to ignite our indignation, to give us a rallying point, and I’m here today to provide it to you. All you have to do is get on Duane’s mailing list. I am, and it has revitalized me in enthusiastic defense of our commander in chief.

Duane Steil is an indignant private citizen in California who bombards me (and hundreds of other media and political types, including Sean Hannity, Bob Woodward, Steve Forbes, John McCain, Glenn Beck and, for some reason, Ed Koch, who is currently dead) with daily e-mails. Almost all of them are savaging the president for perceived sins of commission, sins of omission, sins presumed, sins suspected, sins supposed, sins imagined and sins invented. Duane’s e-mail feed is the place where Obama simply cannot catch a break, a place so dependent on the bedrock assumption of the man’s profound personal flaws and malign intent that no accusation, however preposterous, is deemed unlikely. It’s all a fabulous tool for bolstering loyalty among the likes of us. It’s like what happened last month when that Red Sox pitcher kept throwing at the odious, indefensible Alex Rodriguez. Eventually, Alex’s Yankees teammates started fighting for him.

In Duane’s e-mails, Obama is “Maobama.” He is “The Deceiver in Chief.” He is “Barry O’Conman.” He is a “Commie-leon,” which took me a while but appears to be a fusion of “Communist” and “chameleon.”