As I began to read Frank Rich this morning, I was getting all revved up to go after him.  The NYT columnist:

• repeatedly dissed Bobby Jindal;
• likened Republicans to slave owners in the Old South;
• ridiculed Rick Santelli;
• claimed Republicans were committing “suicide.”

At the same time, Rich glorifed Barack Obama, hailing his “riveting,” “lucid” address to Congress, and seconding his call for government to “step in boldly.”

But then, Rich turned from Obama’s style to his substance, and was surprisingly–harshly–critical. . . .

Rich variously:

• Condemned Obama’s  plans to deal with the credit crisis as “fuzzy”;
• Approvingly quoted a view of Tim Geithner as a “timid protégé of the old boys who got us into this disaster.” Not just a “weak public speaker,” but more ominously, one whose “message doesn’t fly.”
• Accused the administration of a “dithering banking policy [that] lacks the boldness and clarity of Obama’s rhetoric.”

Whoah! Rich ends with this stern warning: “If Obama doesn’t forge a better plan, neither his immense popularity nor even political foes as laughable as Jindal can insulate him from getting burned.”

Personally, I believe Jindal might have the last laugh.  But in the meantime, when supporters as stalwart as Rich paint Pres. Obama as a man without a plan, we could be on the brink of a very serious backlash.