Big mouths, small minds

In a smart piece for Time, Fareed Zakaria observes that in a bold but unorthodox approach to multilateralism, Obama has deliberately removed America from the driver's seat. History may record it as a brilliant stroke -- if it works. Yet, the move infuriates Republicans, especially the more simpleminded ones. Zakaria quotes two of the latter species who pine for the dead glories of the Roman Empire. "We have a Spectator in Chief instead of a Commander in Chief," fumed Newt Gingrich. Senator Lindsey Graham criticized Obama for acting as if "leading the free world is an inconvenience." From his perch in Heaven, I imagine Albert Einstein (who, like Obama, endured prodigious sniping) is wearily shaking his head as he refills his pipe. For him, I'm sure it is tiring to be proven right over and over and over again. For he once famously said, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to discern whom the good professor was talking about.