Confused Maureen Dowd: Why Can't Obama Use 'Super-Brain' to Make Washington Work?

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd spoke in such illustrious language about the "brilliant" president and his "super-brain" that she even bowled over Obama fan Mika Brzezinski who exclaimed: "Now that's love!"

Appearing on the Monday edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Dowd predicted that "five years from now" the Morning Joe crew will be gushing about Obama's "brilliant political memoir" but then lamented that they would look back and ask: "Why couldn't he have applied that super-brain to Washington and gotten it to work better?"  (video after the jump)

The following is the relevant exchange as it was aired on the January 21 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

[8:52am EST]

MIKE BARNICLE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: You keep hearing from, from people around the President, tou know much of what you hear, except with the caveat, "It is not in his nature to make a deal." You know it's just not in his nature. He walks right up to the edge but can't you know - Lyndon Johnson three o'clock in the morning calls someone saying, "You know you're not gonna get anything in your state or your district unless you're with me."

MAUREEN DOWD, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Right.

BARNICLE: Can't do that.

DOWD: Well it's interesting because I can visualize, on this show, in about five years from now, you guys are going to be here and you're going to be discussing Obama's memoir, which he will have written, and it's going to be the most brilliant political memoir outside of Ulysses Grant and Joe, you're going to be saying-

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Now that's love!

DOWD: Yeah. And you're-

BRZEZINSKI: Okay.

DOWD: You're going be saying, "We still don't, we're still trying to figure out who this guy is. And, and he has these amazing insights. Why couldn't he have applied that super-brain to Washington and gotten it to work better?"  

When we were at this brunch at the White House there were top-donors and there was a San Francisco tech guy who was saying he had told Obama "less here [Dowd points to her head] more here [points to heart]." You know?  And I think that's the yearning you feel from people around him. Just stand up and do what's in your heart.