Off the mark

So Ralph Alter is upset with Susan Estrich, but for all the wrong reasons. He totally misunderstood the meaning of Susan Estrich’s Mr. Cool piece. He doesn’t seem to realize that the entire piece was designed to undermine the president, towards the end of elevating her friend, Hillary Clinton.

In the first paragraph, she suggests that Obama might be nervous and insecure, and then lists the reasons why nobody would blame him for feeling nervous and insecure.

Second paragraph; everybody makes mistakes, Obama’s already making mistakes, but as he doesn’t seem fazed by it, he’s either already out of touch, or misleading everybody, and that makes him dishonest.

After that, there are three paragraph-type things, dismissing his smarts, and emphasizing how articulate he is, and the superficiality of his style. The line “President Barrack Obama is in charge” really does read as a temporary surrender, an explanation for bidding one’s time.

She then proceeds to define the role of president, and let us know that she doesn’t know if his policies are good ones, (which is odd, because according to Estrich, she really is an expert on seemingly everything) but she knows he’s got the theater down, so that’s all we can expect.

She others him by declaring the nation scared, insecure, and him confident. Then reduces the value of confidence, by contrasting its definition with the definion of competence.

By repeatedly claiming that the Obamas are young, she is parroting Bill Clinton’s point, when on the campaign trail he called Barrack Obama a kid.

Ralph Atler is off the mark.