OBAMA’S ECONOMIC FATALISM: I’ve seen this among my lefty acquaintances.  They assume decay is inevitable.  I think it comes from economic illiteracy and first-world-guilt (which in turn comes from not knowing that wealth can be created, so more economic illiteracy).  Couple that with Obama’s world-bestriding ego, and you have a recipe for disaster.

UPDATE, FROM READER ERIC SCHUBERT:
In several related ways, I see the liberal pessimism Sarah Hoyt describes
as a classic case of projection:

1. The Blue Social Model is in decline. If you’re heavily invested in it,
then the socioeconomic trends that are moving us away from it are
devastating to your self-worth. Contrast that view with the Whiggish
Optimism (leavened with a heavy dose of the Doctrine of Original Sin) that
we see with Walter Russell Mead’s blog.

2. If her liberal friends are gentry liberals who have career paths that
are in decline, then the rise of successful upstarts in unrelated fields
undermines the status of her liberal friends.

3. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are fading rapidly as roadblocks to
personal happiness and professional success. How does a liberal feel
superior and smug when all but the most narrow-minded accept diversity?

Eric Schubert
Katy, TX

YOU MAY QUOTE WITH ATTRIBUTION

Eric — Most of my friends are novelists, wedded to the old model of doing fiction-business.