One of the memes about Barack Obama is that his constant capitulation and negotiating with himself is some sort of eleven dimensional chess.
I think that this is unmitigated bullsh%$, and I think that James Fallows does too, but one of his readers buys into it seriously, but turns what he considers to be a compliment into an insult by comparing Barack Obama to Chess master Bobby Fischer.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fischer, he is a classic example of someone who by hubris and temperament destroyed himself, and whatever skills he might have had in chess, they never translated to anything useful, even before his descent into paranoia, mental illness, and bigotry.
He was a man so unpleasant, that much of the American public was rooting for the Russian when he won his Chess championship.
The reader states that, “From a political and a policy standpoint, he’s pushed the Republicans so far to the right that they are called terrorists without humor by the national media.” is so lost the alternate reality of the Obama fanboi it beggars belief.
I rather think that Fallows found this provocative, and published this even though he is dubious of this theory; he is no way a fanboi.
In any case, I look forward to reading his readers responses.