Because consistency is the hobgoblin of Sullied minds

Here’s Andrew Sullivan the way we like to remember him — and it was just Monday:

This president is too weak, too cautious, too beholden to politics over policy to lead. In this budget, in his refusal to do anything concrete to tackle the looming entitlement debt, in his failure to address the generational injustice, in his blithe indifference to the increasing danger of default, he has betrayed those of us who took him to be a serious president prepared to put the good of the country before his short term political interests. Like his State of the Union, this budget is good short term politics but such a massive pile of fiscal bull[stuff!] it makes it perfectly clear that Obama is kicking this vital issue down the road.

And here’s Sully the way we’ve come to know him — and it was just yesterday:

I hate to disappoint my friends on the right and left, but strong criticism of a president does not mean abandonment. Obama remains, in my view, the best chance we’ve had in a long time to address our real problems in a civil and constructive way. That’s why he mattered and still matters. My post reflects a crushing disappointment in his fiscal unseriousness, while acknowledging its short-term political canniness.

Sing along with me now: One of these things is not like the other…

How does one reconcile “too weak, too cautious, too beholden to politics over policy to lead” with “the best chance we’ve had in a long time to address our real problems?”

One can’t. It cannot be done. Unless, I suppose, you’re a blogger for The Atlantic.