The Ultimate "Damn Obama" complaint.

In a remarkable case of jumping the shark, Peggy Noonan- who wrote radio talks for Dan Rather and speeches for Ronald Reagan- says the dismaying rise of Donald the Gauche is President Obama's fault:

The only thing I feel certain of is how we got here. There are many reasons we’re at this moment, but the essential political one is this: Mr. Obama lowered the bar. He was a literal unknown, an obscure former state legislator who hadn’t completed his single term as U.S. senator, but he was charismatic, canny, compelling. He came from nowhere and won it all twice. All previously prevailing standards, all usual expectations, were thrown out the window.

Previously prevailing standards, for Republicans, include taking seriously presidential candidates like Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes, Bob Smith, Bob Dornan, Fred Thompson, Tom Tancredo, Jim Gilmore, Sam Brownback, Orrin Hatch, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson...

Or, formerly, Wendell Willkie (1940), Alf Landon (1936), or Warren Harding (1920). Or, one heartbeat away from the presidency, Sarah Palin (2008), Dan Quayle (1988, 1992), Spiro Agnew (1968, 1972), William Miller (1964; "His only return to public life was in the famous American Express commercial. He was shown saying, “Do you know me? I once ran for Vice President.”); and Richard Nixon (in 1952 he'd been a Congressman for three years and a senator, two).