Maureen Dowd’s column in yesterday’s New York times on Obama’s response to last month’s failed terror attempt is a bit infuriating:

He’s so sure of himself and his actions that he fails to see that he misses the moment to be president — to be the strong father who protects the home from invaders, who reassures and instructs the public at traumatic moments.

He’s more like the aloof father who’s turned the Situation Room into a Seminar Room.

Can we please stop this nonsense? What trauma? A guy with a firecracker on an airplane? I agree with Matthew Yglesias:

Sorry, no. The Situation Room is not a Seminar Room, but it’s also not the Reassuring Dad room. It’s a place where the President meets with key officials to decide what to do in response to emergencies…Reassuring children is a job for parents.

The great thing about a democracy is that it is the only form of government that ensures people get the government they deserve. If we ask to be treated like children, no doubt this is what we will get.