You know that President Obama is swimming up stream when Maureen Dowd writes this:

"The president looked exhausted as he met the press in St. Petersburg on Friday.

The man elected because of his magical powers of persuasion had failed to persuade other world leaders at dinner the night before about a strike on Syria.    

He said he had told his fellow leaders, "I was elected to end wars and not start them."  

But in life, and especially in Washington, people sometimes end up becoming what they start out scorning."

Isn't that the truth? 

How did we get here?  How did we go from the "dreamy" Obama of the campaign to the exhausted man of today?

In 2007-08, candidate Obama was given a free pass on issue after issue by people like Maureen Dowd. They were so eager to replace Bush that they hitched their wagon to the biggest anti-Bush of all.

He was going to close Guantanamo but nobody in the press asked:  "Where are you going to send the people there"?

He was going to bring the world together but nobody asked:  "Can you give us an example of how you brought people together at any time in your life or career?"  Winning a minority senate district in Chicago or speaking at a left wing Iraq war rally in 2002 are not examples of anything difficult.

He was going to be transparent but nobody asked:  "Why did you walk away from public funds and finance your campaign with private donations"?

He promised to fight for immigration reform but no one in the Spanish speaking media asked:  "Why did you kill McCain-Kennedy with amendments favoring the unions"?

He spoke about public education but nobody asked:  "Why did you send your daughters to private schools in Chicago?"

He made a bunch of promises and no one challenged him.  He is now facing reality and not enjoying it.

Even Maureen Dowd can't take it anymore.  

You can hear my chat with Richard Baehr of American Thinker here.