A Lack Of Evidence

David Brooks has an uncharacteristically interesting opinion piece up today concerning the current state of politics. Brooks contends we have fallen back into an old trope; the old battle royale between big government and small government. And, I must say, I agree with Brooks when he says this is rather boring. Been there. Done that.

However, Brooks falls into his standard nonsense when it comes to Obama:

The center has been losing political power pretty much my entire career. But I confess that about 16 months ago I had some hope of a revival. The culture war, which had bitterly divided the country for decades, was winding down. The war war — the fight over Iraq and national security — was also waning.

The country had just elected a man who vowed to move past the old polarities, who valued discussion and who clearly had some sympathy with both the Burkean and Hamiltonian impulses. He staffed his administration with brilliant pragmatists whose views overlapped with mine, who differed only in that they have more faith in technocratic planning.

Would someone please point me to the evidence for the existence of this mythical moderate Obama? Brooks seems to be convinced by the fact Obama can correctly identify who Reinhold Niebuhr is, but a real pragmatist would only be satisfied by actions in the real world. As Brooks, and other "moderate" Obama apologists can never provide such evidence I will continue to treat such claims as the equivalent of Loch Ness monster sightings.