David Brooks Partly Sees The Light

AlterNet: NYT's David Brooks Begins a Conservative 12-Step Program — After Eight Years of Trying to Make Right-Wing Looniness Seem Respectable - A New York Times columnist sees the light of Obama's decency and humanity. By Aaron Barlow

Many of the traits of character and leadership that Obama possesses, and that maybe we have taken too much for granted, have suddenly gone missing or are in short supply.

Trouble is, Brooks is the kid who, after murdering his parents, asks for mercy as an orphan. Still, we should welcome him into recovery. “Hi, my name is David and I’m a political opportunist.”

NYT: I Miss Barack Obama by David Brooks

Second, a sense of basic humanity. Donald Trump has spent much of this campaign vowing to block Muslim immigration. You can only say that if you treat Muslim Americans as an abstraction. President Obama, meanwhile, went to a mosque, looked into people’s eyes and gave a wonderful speech reasserting their place as Americans.