The cheap shot unresisted

In his latest drive-by attack on President Obama, Richard Cohen relates a story by author Helen Gahagan Douglas. She "recalled telling President Franklin D. Roosevelt about her visits to the camps of migrant workers. She was especially poignant about the children and their lack of Christmas toys when the president tried to stop her. 'Don’t tell me any more, Helen,' FDR told the woman who is probably best known for losing a dirty Senate race to Richard Nixon. She was stunned. Roosevelt was crying. Can anyone imagine Barack Obama doing anything similar? The answer — at least my answer — is no."

Apart from being utter nonsense, this is disingenuousness taken to new heights. Today, in a surprise visit to Dover Air Force Base, Obama privately honored the returning remains of U.S. military (and SEAL Team Six) personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. I'm sure his emotions ran high. Bush never went once in 8 years. Obama has gone twice. The photo shows the president during his first visit (Oct 2009). His face hardly looks emotionless. Moreover, has Cohen, a liberal, actually forgotten the day before Election Day 2008? It's the day Obama's beloved grandmother (Madelyn Payne Dunham) died. Remember the tears streaming down Obama face as he delivered the news to his supporters while on the stump. "She's gone home," Obama told the crowd in North Carolina, which went from raucous to silent.

Cohen is a decent columnist. But his piece today (a lazy imitation of Drew Westen's better written essay about Obama) is little more than a cheap shot.