Manage Expectations

(via Syd O) Joel Achenbach has a short, witty, dour post in Slate trying to bring the Obama-mania back to earth.

He had that nice phrase about "the winter of our hardship." And then there was this wonderful passage: "Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights." Why not end the speech right there? What a great walk-off line. Keep it short, simple, shattering. Leave 'em weeping.