It All Makes Sense If You Start With the Right Premise

After the WSJ Op-Ed writers chronicle the vomit-inducing pork and graft in the fiscal cliff bill, they have this to say: 

Even as he praised the bill full of this stuff, Mr. Obama called Tuesday night for "further reforms to our tax code so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans."

One of Mr. Obama's political gifts is that he can sound so plausible describing the opposite of his real intentions.

Translation; Obama is a bullshit artist.

On another issue, Jennifer Rubin wonders why Chuck Hagel is still in the mix for SecDef:

Let’s start with an issue that should concern the Obama administration and its allies, namely the significant policy differences between Hagel and the president. President Obama  believes in tough sanctions against Iran; Hagel does not. The president insists that he wants good relations with Israel (and thereby can influence its decision-making with regard to Iran); Hagel has displayed a poisonous animosity toward the Jewish state. Hagel has advocated direct negotiations with Hamas; Obama has never gone this far. The difficulty in articulating to foes and friends our positions on an array of issues is greatly magnified when a critical cabinet officials has a long track record of disagreement with the president, or at least what the president says is his current policy.

Baffling indeed.  Unless, of course, you start with the premise that Obama is a bullshit artist.   Start with that premise and almost everything makes perfect sense.