Ron Fournier on How Obama Became the Superhero of Excuses

"Meant to mock president's critics, the 'Green Lantern' theory underscores the gap between his promise and his performance."

 Photo from the Ezra Klein article, The Green Lantern Theory of the Presidency, explained, quoted from in this Fournier column below.

National Journal   "You helped elect an untested presidential candidate, a man almost as liberal as you. He promised to heal the oceans, make health care an inalienable right, and transform Washington's toxic culture. You mocked Republicans, independents, and squishy Democrats who had the audacity to criticize your guy, much less doubt the inevitability of his victory. President Obama won—twice—and then didn't live up to anybody's expectations, including his own.

"What do you do? Well, if you're Ezra Klein and a coterie of inflexibly progressive pundits, you repurpose an attack used against President George W. Bush's bombastic approach to geopolitics. You call anybody who questions Obama's leadership style a Green Lanternist. In a post for Vox stretching beyond 2,500 words, Klein makes his case against Obama critics."

...

Notice that the broken promises are pawned off to nonhuman forms ("his 2008 campaign" pledged ... "It also promised ... ") rather than Obama himself. The verbal gymnastics are an early hint that the main purpose of the essay is to shelter Obama from blame. There's so much more.

You would think voters in general and professional media pundits in particular would, by now, be wise to this pattern. But they're not. (Emphasis mine, TD)

...

"The launch of the Affordable Care Act and the worsening of conditions at the Veterans Affairs Department are emblematic of Obama's inattention to the hard work of governing. He is slow to fire poor-serving Cabinet members and quick to dismiss controversies as "phony scandals." To the Obama administration, transparency is a mere talking point. The great irony of his progressive presidency: Democrats privately admit that Obama has done as much to undermine the public's faith in government as his GOP predecessor. The Green Lantern Theory is an excuse for failure."