You Make Your Own Luck, Mr President

President Obama likes to blame two things for the economic mess we're in, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post: bad luck and Republicans. Each is preposterous, Krauthammer adds. Yes, we've seen troubles with Japan, Europe, the Arab Spring, and on and on, but Obama is supposed to be a leader, not a victim of circumstance. "Moreover, luck is the residue of design, as Branch Rickey immortally observed," and Obama's economic policies have backfired. "He sowed, he reaps."

As for his charge against Republicans, the president likes to say they put politics ahead of country—dismissing even the possibility they are acting in good faith but from different principles. It's on par with Rick Perry's "treasonous" comment, but Obama takes no grief for it. These are his two excuses: "a recalcitrant providence and an unpatriotic opposition," writes Krauthammer. "A comforting fantasy. But a sorry excuse for a failing economy and a flailing presidency." (More President Obama stories.)