QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  From Wesley Pruden in The Washington Times, on the contrast between Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama:

As anyone who knew Ronald Reagan would tell you, Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan. Mr. Obama, smooth and eloquent though he on occasion can be, reassuring us that "it's morning in America" would be no reassurance at all. Actor or not, the Gipper believed his lines.

Mr. Reagan, a son of the heartland, celebrating America as a nation forged in the melting pot, understood America in a way that Barack Obama, who boasts that he is descended from "generations of Muslims" and seems puzzled that this evokes no applause at home, never could. Mr. Obama has never been more eloquent, or sounded more like his heart was in his message, than in Cairo where he apologized for America's "sins" against the Muslims. Ronald Reagan never sounded more like his heart was in the message than in Europe singing a familiar hymn to America's virtues and its sacrifices on behalf of others. Mr. Obama was raised in the third world and through no particular fault of his own never absorbed the words and music of "morning in America."

COMMENT:  That certainly says it, and well.  But remember, Obama has some built-in constituencies that will never leave him, even if their enthusiasm has dimmed.  He will not be easy to beat if he runs for reelection.  And if you think the press was biased last time, you ain't seen nothin' yet.  Obama is the press's creation, to a large degree, and it will fight to preserve what it has created.  Besides, 2012 means four more years of the media hiring a new generation of journalists who want to "make a difference."  That "difference" doesn't include free enterprise or victory in war.

July 16, 2010