"Generally, I look very sharp in jeans”

Barack Obama, defending himself to Ryan Seacrest.

More from Maureen Dowd:

New Yorker editor, David Remnick, talked to The New Republic about Obama’s “locutions,” his habit of going, “On the one hand. On the other hand. That is to say.” “On the other hand, excuse me,” Remnick said, laughing, “I wish I could hear a lot more from him about, say, Ukraine, than I have, other than just ‘We are keeping out.’ ” Obama’s approval ratings will shape the midterms, and some Hill observers compare his crumpling numbers to an illness. The president didn’t do the basic things to take care of himself, and now he’s gone terminal and contagious.

The closest the president came to getting a leg up on mounting a defense was on Friday when he told Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview that he had been unfairly maligned for his mom jeans: “Generally, I look very sharp in jeans.”

These impressions are the balance point by which others leaders shape their decision making when weighing risk,  gain and fear of the unknown.

Lately there had appeared some stories implying Putin is a bit unbalanced-paranoid, and PS in charge of a huge army, real air force, and measurable navy, if inferior on paper.

He has shown he can wield them, so far, WITHOUT global cataclysm and still gain.

We see a man who declines to even draw an effective line when WMD are used and he as drawn a line. We see a man whose cabinet members, when faced with outlining action, tell the world it will be a pittance of force, so the world does not have to fear any untoward consequences.

What are WE weighing in November? This nation has been mismanaged completely since 2009. And as Barney Frank put it, the Dems’ argument boils down to ‘we mismanaged it less worse than the other fools’.

This is an argument which theoretically can be made with regard to the domestic damages, and unforced errors, but in foreign policy this president understands only apologetic avoidance of risk.

But that is not (as WaPo editorials have pointed out) THIS WORLD

And everyone else understands that perfectly.