Jonah Goldberg reacts to Obama's 'biggest mistake

Gotta love Jonah's oh-so-subtle critique in today's Goldberg File:

The president was asked what his biggest mistake was in his first term. He responded, "The mistake of my first term -- couple of years -- was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that's important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times."

It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry -- or drive a three-penny nail into my frontal lobe using only this stapler as the hammer (you can't see the stapler, but trust me).

Because if I did lobotomize myself with the penny-nail-and-stapler combo or even if I plunked down the three easy payments of 39.95 for the Norelco home-lobotomy kit, I might actually take this pernicious lunacy seriously.

Take my word for it as someone who grew up a text-book under-achiever, I am very familiar with the technique of trying to protect your ego or your reputation with claims that you didn't even try.

But here's the thing: Barack Obama's not an under-achiever. He's Mr. Harvard Law, wunderkind, super-intellectual, creased pants, did the extra-credit-reading guy. Oh yeah, he's also the frick'n president of the United States of America.

Which is what makes his claim that his biggest mistake was failing to use his Jedi-like communication skills to give the American people a "sense of unity and purpose and optimism" so incredibly lame.

What makes it infuriating, however, is the simple fact that it is a monumental lie. Does he think no one has been paying attention? He's been prattling on in speeches, presidential addresses, interviews, and -- if he'd followed Elizabeth Warren's advice -- smoke signals, about hope and unity and "we're all in it together" for his entire presidency. By claiming that he was too distracted by the imperative "to get the policy right" even to try to inspire the American people, he's letting himself off the hook for something he most emphatically did try, over and over and over again.