Dowd on Obama vs. Gingrich

Here is Maureen Dowd in a NY Times op-ed giving her usual lyrical treatment of the two main contenders to run America:

A match between Gingrich and Obama would be fascinating: two men who grew up without their hot-tempered, hard-drinking fathers, vying to be the nation’s patriarch.

The Drama Queen versus No Drama Obama. The apocalyptic prophet versus the ambiguous president.

One hot, one cold. One struggles to stop setting fires as the other struggles to get fiery. One who’s always veering out of control, one who’s too tightly controlled. One reining it in, one letting it rip. One tamping down his pugilistic side, the other ramping it up. One channeling Ronald Reagan to seem more genial; the other channeling Harry Truman to have more spine.

One pretending to be a populist when he can’t drag himself out of Tiffany’s; the other pretending to be a populist when he’d like to be at Davos with Jamie Dimon.

Obama is a foul-weather populist and Gingrich is a fair-weather normal guy. Neither is a convincing populist for the 99 percent who crave one, but it would be fun to watch the Hand Grenade take on Cool Hand Luke.

Whereas Obama usually faded away on stage during his primary debates in 2008, Gingrich revived a fading campaign this fall with his confident debate performances against pitiful foes.

Where Gingrich is vesuvian, Obama is spartan. Gingrich spewed a lot of ideas but often lacked the discipline to see them through. Obama has plenty of discipline, but some plans come a cropper because he gives away too much too early to the other side and delegates too much to Congress.

Like Obama, Gingrich loves to give seminars. But Gingrich, unlike Obama, has a talent for the visceral. Often, however, his rhetoric goes off a cliff.

It is tragic that America will be given a choice between two incompetents. There is need for real leadership with a grand vision to pull America out of the muck of the Great Recession. But these two clowns aren't even worthy to kiss the feet of the leader that America needs. Tragic!