Maureen Dowd Earns Conservative Praise for Column Ripping Obama
“Stop whining, Mr. President,” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd began in her latest column. “And stop whiffing.”
In a piece published on Tuesday, Dowd unloaded on President Barack Obama’s handling of a variety of issues facing his administration and the United States. She wrote that she empathizes with Obama “being thin-skinned,” being the subject of much criticism herself. But Dowd submits that the president responding to that criticism with defensiveness detracts from the power of the office he occupies.
“You need to think bigger,” the Times columnist added. Dowd took issue with Obama managing expectations on how the West could contain an expansionist Russia. “It doesn’t feel like leadership,” she wrote. “It doesn’t feel like you’re in command of the world.”
Once you liked to have the stage set yourself, Mr. President, to have the aura of the lone man in the arena, not sharing the spotlight with others.
But now when captured alone in a picture, you seem disconnected and adrift.
The column drew praise from some unlikely sources:
Rare that I recommend @NYTimesDowd's column, but it's worth reading today: http://t.co/JFo2vc1wkG
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 30, 2014
Something very unsettling just happened. I agreed w/Maureen Dowd. Luke, was there a disturbance in the Force? | http://t.co/gBoRMDTQwi
— Mike Doran (@Doranimated) April 30, 2014
At least one Obama supporter, however, thought the column was evidence of Dowd’s latent racial antipathy toward the president:
The only difference between Maureen Dowd and Donald Sterling is that she hasn't been caught on tape yet.
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 30, 2014
[Image via screengrab/University of California Television]
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