Obama: Cooler Than Coolidge

In his obituary of Calvin Coolidge, H.L. Mencken wrote, "He had no ideas, but was not a nuisance."

Redscott, a commenter elsewhere, wrote:

Greenwald calls this phenomenon all the time. Obama says nice things about Gitmo, civil liberties, dumb wars, economic relief, and an even-handed foreign policy, but he never actually does anything significant that would advance those righteous objectives. It's about as empty as empty can get. Call me when he does something.

This is Obama's strategy. If you don't do anything, you can't do anything wrong. Obama surfs the wave of history, hoping to ride the leading edge of the wave and not slip back to the trailing edge. Giving forward sounding speeches gives the appearance of activity wthout the risks associated with actual activism.

Obama is the most conservative president since Coolidge.