Meet Dave

Well, That Certainly Didn’t Take Long
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: February 3, 2009

Maureen Dowd takes a look at the still developing Obama Administration and sees some signs of Barack Obama being only mortal.

Even as he told the children his favorite superheroes were Batman and Spider-Man, his own dream of being the superhero who swoops in to swiftly save America was going SPLAT!

Barack is getting caught in that web of insider DC politics where the smallest error (particularly a six figure one) can doom a nominee.

He told the anchors that the man who helped make him president, Tom Daschle, had made “a serious mistake” by not paying taxes on a car and driver. (It should have been a harbinger of doom when Daschle began sporting those determined-to-be-hip round red glasses.)

And as a primer in budget spending, we get an extended length Movies With Maureen® where Barack could learn a few lessons from Kevin Kline.

Mr. Obama’s errors on the helter-skelter stimulus package were also self-induced. He should put down those Lincoln books and order “Dave” from Netflix.

When Kevin Kline becomes an accidental president, he summons his personal accountant, Murray Blum, to the White House to cut millions in silly programs out of the federal budget so he can give money to the homeless.

“Who does these books?” Blum says with disgust, red-penciling an ad campaign to boost consumers’ confidence in cars they’d already bought. “If I ran my office this way, I’d be out of business.”

Mr. Obama should have taken a red pencil to the $819 billion stimulus bill and slashed all the provisions that looked like caricatures of Democratic drunken-sailor spending.

But it’s not just government spending that raises Maureen’s ire. In what is now a recurring segment, she goes all Robin Leach with a luxury-porn description of Lifestyles Of The Rich And Clueless®, this time she peeks in the Citigroup corporate jet.

The interior of the 18-seat jet, as described by The Post, is posh, with a full bar, fine-wine selection, $13,000 carpets, Baccarat crystal glasses, Cristofle sterling silver flatware and — my personal favorite — pillows made from Hermès scarves.

And in her new role as the Éponine of the Op/Ed page, she raises the battle cry.

Aux barricades!

We're right behind you Maureen!