"President Obama is so much better when he takes a heated, knotty issue... and talks to the country like adults."

"He is so much better at making us smarter than angrier. Going to war with the banks for a quick political sugar high after an electoral loss will just work against him and us. It will spook the banks into lending even less and slow the recovery even more."

Thomas Friedman said, making me struggle — dumbly — to remember when Obama made me smarter.