IN WALKS THE VILLAGE IDIOT, AND HIS FACE IS ALL AGLOW. He’s been up all night listening to Obama’s radio.

But the Obama photo on Newsweek’s cover will do him more harm than all the desparate sycophancy in the text. He looks terrible, and surprisingly like Jimmy Carter, even down to the downturned liverish lips and incipient jowls. I’m amazed they went with that one. Perhaps the staff is of two minds. Andrew Sullivan, of course, has reason for gratitude.

UPDATE: Yes, it’s the Zevon thing again. “Just as an aside, while the song has some references that may seem contemporary, it was written in the 70′s.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: We Must Be Really, Really Stupid. “We who who are unhappy that unemployment has increased on Obama’s watch, that over-regulation has stymied economic growth, that our children now owe a $15 trillion debt that we can’t pay–hey, we’re just dumb! We obviously aren’t smart enough to understand how devastating our economy, unemploying millions of Americans and burdening our children with trillions of dollars in debt is really a great idea.”

MORE: Scheisse glanz nicht, wenn man sie poliert.