Looks like we've morphed away from the original topic once again. The original post suggested that David Brooks column was a worthwhile read. The principal topic of his column had nothing at all to do with endorsing or criticizing President Obama. The point Brooks was trying to make was that people live in information cuccoons these days, refusing to even consider what people who don't endorse their political beliefs think.

In his column, he uses what President Obama has said and proposed and reflects on how those to his left and right have interpreted him. He is critical of the unwillingness of the country these days to listen to the statements and plans of a political leader in an attempt to determine whether those plans are worthy of support.

At the end of his column he makes the point that "in a sensible country, (a political leader) would be able to clearly define this project without fear of offending the people he needs to get legislation passed." Brooks goes on to criticize the current polarized feelings in the country, saying "...but we don’t live in that country. We live in a country in which many people live in information cocoons in which they only talk to members of their own party and read blogs of their own sect. They come away with perceptions fundamentally at odds with reality..."

The problem is that he uses President Obama as the example of how people on the left and right are unwilling to even consider ideas other than their own. All the use of Obama's name did was to set off several posters here, criticizing Brooks, the President, and each other.

If there was ever a column that demonstrates the problem of partisanship in this country right now, it was this one. That's why I recommended it and entitled the whole thread, "A Worthwhile Read". For some of you, I was wasting my time. As Brooks said, you're too involved in your own little information cuccoons to even listen, let alone think.