In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.

Bob Herbert/The Pastor Casts a Shadow

The Short Version: Oh nos! The Reverend is going to wreck everything!

In his words: “Faster than anyone could have imagined, the young Mr. Obama became Senator Obama and then the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.”

Score: B- (Bit much)
This column unfortunately gets bogged down by sentences such as the above, and although we understand Herbert’s concern, we think he’s taking the Reverend a bit too seriously. If anything, we think this will help Obama, because he now gets to put the smackdown on a self-inflated loser, which everyone loves to see.

David Brooks/Demography is King 

The Short Version: News flash! The Democratic party is divided between elite liberals and working-class stiffs.

In his words: “The upscale liberals who revere Obama have spent their lives championing equality and opposing privilege. ”

The Score: C- (Conceited)
Brooks takes a very basic idea that should be obvious to anyone who has spent more than five seconds following the campaign. The idea is this: city Democrats tend to like Obama and rural Democrats tend to like Clinton. There you have it in 13 words! He goes no further in his analysis, but  spends an entire column trying to make it sound complicated and revelatory. Even more ridiculously, he doesn’t once mention racism as a factor in this equation.