I'm honestly not sure which is worse -- being compared to Jimmy Carter or World War II appeaser Neville Chamberlain.
Regardless, I guess Matthews really has lost that lovin' feeling.
As the discussion about the President's upcoming speech on Afghanistan wound down on this weekend's "The Chris Matthews Show," the host asked his guests if the "long deliberation" concerning strategy will make Obama "look smart and deliberate for having taken all this time, or will the dithering shot still being cast in by people like former Vice President Dick Cheney" hurt him?
What ensued will raise many eyebrows on both sides of the aisle (video embedded below the fold with transcript):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Will this long deliberation, Anne Kornblut, you've got the tough question here to start with. Whip around here. It took three months to make this decision. Will he look smart and deliberate for having taken all this time, or will the dithering shot still being cast in by people like former Vice President Dick Cheney, is that still going to hurt?
ANNE KORNBLUT, WASHINGTON POST: The gamble they're making is that he'll look smart and he'll look like the anti-Bush for having thought about it for so long.
JOE KLEIN, TIME: The anti-Bush part is really important because Bush really needed to do a strategy re-evaluation about Iraq six months in there and he never did.
MATTHEWS: Andrea, will it look good if he takes all this time?
ANDREA KRAMER, NBC: I agree. I think it will look good if he takes his time, if taking his time he comes out with something that adds up. If he doesn't then people will say you took so long and what did you deliver?
DAVID IGNATIUS, WASHINGTON POST: The long period of analysis, very deliberative, robs this of passion. This is, he is going to be a wartime president now, and he has to sell the country on the idea that our young men and women are going to go there, fight and get killed and I think this is not...
MATTHEWS: So, too much Chamberlain and not enough Churchill.
IGNATIUS: Well, too much, too much college professor.
Yeah, that's what we need.
Exit question: Is this a function of Obama's declining poll numbers leading media to feel more comfortable expressing criticism of the President, or has the campaign ether really worn off, and these people are legitimately concerned about his ability to govern?
Picture courtesy Exurban League.
