Charles Hurt observes Obama’s snippiness about the Constitution. Well, at least the part of the Constitution that sets out a bicameral legislature and establishes a Senate designed to cool the passions and slow the race to pass ill-advised legislation. Obama recently whined about the Senate’s refusal to pass cap-and-trade and about the extended debate over his planned takeover of a sixth of the economy: “If this pattern continues, you’re going to see an inability on the part of America to deal with big problems in a very competitive world, and other countries are going to start running circles around us.” Yes, all that discussion, so many minority rights, and then the annoyance of listening to the sixty percent of Americans who oppose his signature legislation. Who can bear it?

Hurt writes: “His casting aspersions on the very genius of the American government because he can’t get his way is cause for alarm.” But it is nothing new. The Obami have little patience for opposition or dissent, whether it comes from town-hall attendees, Fox News,  the Chamber of Commerce, or the U.S. Senate. They have mastered the art of the Friday-afternoon news dump on major developments (e.g., KSM’s civilian trial), have stiffed congressmen and an independent commission on inquiries regarding the dismissal of the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case,  and won’t release data on Guantanamo recidivism. They need not answer to anyone, it seems. And they have little or no patience with the process of lawmaking so long as they get a bill, any bill, to tout as a win.

It is the impatience of a president frustrated with the pace of democracy, unwilling to explain what his administration is up to, and annoyed that the country no longer falls at his feet. He can no longer inspire or convince with rhetoric so he rails and pouts. Perhaps we should have elected someone with a superior temperament.