David Brooks is Talking in His Sleep Again

Anybody else get the impression that David Brooks must have listened to the SOTU speech through a glass held to the wall separating his apartment from his neighbor's? Who, besides Brooks, heard anything in the speech that suggested that Obama had "distanced [himself] from the Democratic orthodoxy", or "distanced [himself] from Washington morality", thereby making him "the sole coolheaded man in Gomorrah"?

And what's all this business about "a saner, updated version of Ross Perot", and why does Brooks think that Obama should (or even can) forestall the rise of such a figure by becoming this person himself?

If I were one of those fellows advising Barack Obama, I would tell him that you can either get run over by that saner Ross Perot or you can be the saner Ross Perot. You’re not ornery, but you are a bit of a loner. You’re not a billionaire with a huge ego, but that’s because you’re not that rich. God gave you self-esteem. You might as well use it for good.

In reality, of course, Brooks is "one of those fellows" giving advice to Barack Obama - free advice, and clearly worth every cent.

As Bertie Wooster said, "I can tolerate rot, but it must not be utter rot." Brooks' latest...effort...is intolerable.