Devastating

WOW!
This little piece by Foud Ajami in today's Wall Street Journal is worth a read.
It is a smack right into the gut of our president, Barack Obama.
But the money lines are these:

In one of the revealing moments of the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama rightly observed that the Reagan presidency was a transformational presidency in a way Clinton's wasn't. And by that Reagan precedent, that Reagan standard, the faults of the Obama presidency are laid bare. Ronald Reagan, it should be recalled, had been swept into office by a wave of dissatisfaction with Jimmy Carter and his failures. At the core of the Reagan mission was the recovery of the nation's esteem and self-regard. Reagan was an optimist. He was Hollywood glamour to be sure, but he was also Peoria, Ill. His faith in the country was boundless, and when he said it was "morning in America" he meant it; he believed in America's miracle and had seen it in his own life, in his rise from a child of the Depression to the summit of political power.
The failure of the Carter years was, in Reagan's view, the failure of the man at the helm and the policies he had pursued at home and abroad. At no time had Ronald Reagan believed that the American covenant had failed, that America should apologize for itself in the world beyond its shores. There was no narcissism in Reagan. It was stirring that the man who headed into the sunset of his life would bid his country farewell by reminding it that its best days were yet to come.
In contrast, there is joylessness in Mr. Obama. He is a scold, the "Yes we can!" mantra is shallow, and at any rate, it is about the coming to power of a man, and a political class, invested in its own sense of smarts and wisdom, and its right to alter the social contract of the land. In this view, the country had lost its way and the new leader and the political class arrayed around him
will bring it back to the right path.

POW! BAM! WHAM!
And when the next Republican presidential candidate comes to be nominated in 2012, he or she may want to read this piece.
For you see, it is about optimism. It is about letting people dream their dreams, reach their aspirations. That is why Ronald Wilson Reagan won not one, but two terms by landslide numbers. And, unlike the current commander-in-chief, Mr. Reagan did not have a cheerleading media. He did not have support of the intelligentsia. Nor the movie industry from whence he came. No, what Ronald Reagan had was the support of the American people.
What will the Barack Obama allies have to say if he is defeated for reelection in 2012? The cry of the day. Racism! Racism! That is all we can say! If you ain't on board, you are nothing but a racist!
Well, read the whole thing. It is devastating!

HT: Allahpundit @ www.hotair.com