Incoherent column

Noonan supported Obama, for some reason, now has buyer's remorse. But the supposition in her title was wrong from the start. There was never any basis whatever for supposing that Obama would be a competent president, none at all. He was, and is proving himself to be, utterly unqualified for the presidency. His experience base was not sufficient to qualify him to be governor of Illinois, or mayor of Chicago. That he became President of the United States was a most unfortunate accident of history and electoral politics.

The possibility that power could fall into the hands of a personally attractive, silver-tongued, self-appointed savior is precisely what critics of popular democracy always worried about and warned against. It's what 'demagogue' means. Given his agenda, does Noonan really wish that Obama were more competent? As far as I can see, the best hope the country has is Obama's incompetence. Speaking just for myself, what I hope for over the next 3+ years is a neutered Obama and a gridlocked Congress, with effective power flowing back toward states, localities, and individuals as a result.

Byron