President Obama's Blame-Americans-First Tour

Economy: Having run out of excuses for the economic crisis his own policies have produced, President Obama has taken to blaming the American people. Has he no shame?

At a San Francisco fundraiser this week, Obama told the assembled fat cats that: "We have lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge."

Earlier this month, Obama complained that "we used to have the best stuff. Think about it: The world used to say 'Let's travel to America. Let's see the Golden Gate Bridge. Let's see the Hoover Dam. Let's see the amazing things that America built.'"

And in September, he said the country "had gotten a little soft and, you know, we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. We need to get back on track."

Lost our ambition? Gone soft? Can't make the best stuff? For the president of the United States to talk like this is beneath reproach. Yet it's more or less par for the course for Obama, who constantly casts aspersions on the country's institutions, business leaders or any other convenient scapegoat when things don't go his way.

During his campaign, Obama complained about "bitter" middle-class voters who "cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them" and vote Republican.

Since being elected, he's blamed the lousy recovery on President Bush, an "ethic of greed," "reckless fat-cat bankers," selfish millionaires and billionaires, and corporations who he says are sitting "on the sidelines."

He complains about the nation's political system. "What's broken is our politics," he said over the summer, after he was forced to work with Republicans on a debt ceiling increase deal. He derides "this big, messy, tough democracy."

He's even complained that the "the erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of America." Oh wait. That one wasn't Obama. That was Jimmy Carter in his infamous "malaise" speech.

Voters were rightly appalled by Carter's attempt to blame them for the wreckage his economic policies had caused. And they ran him out of office in favor of a president who unashamedly boasted about America and its promise, and who recognized that the real problem was overgrown government.

We can only hope voters do the same to Obama next November.