Known Plaintext

I believe the President is a remarkably intelligent person, misunderstood by a great many people, who sincerely wants this country to remain a great beacon to the world, who is facing problems of such complexity that even his considerable intelligence is strained to its limits, and who has enough good common horse sense to wake up every day acutely aware of how much he needs more wisdom and insight than he currently has.

I believe the President has gravely misunderstood our situation in pretty much every respect — diplomatic, foreign, domestic, military, law-enforcement, intelligence, and so on.

I believe that despite these fundamental misunderstandings the President makes the correct call the overwhelming majority of the time. I suspect the number is close to ninety percent. (I attribute it to some first-class advisers who are able to steer him clear of the worst of his misunderstandings. I think these advisers are national heroes.)

I believe the ten percent where he’s made the wrong call — and his total unwillingness to consider even the possibility that his calls are wrong — jeopardize all that he’s accomplished with the ninety percent.

I believe the President has committed impeachable offenses. I don’t mean Clintonian lying-under-oath things (which were execrable enough), but plain and deliberate violations of the blackletter text of the People’s Constitution and the legislature’s laws. I believe that in the interests of the nation, as well as enhancing our elected officials’ respect for the Rule of Law, that the President needs to be (or should have been) removed from office.

Question: am I speaking of George W. Bush or of Barack H. Obama?