Bothered, Bewildered -- But Still Bewitched?

Howard Fineman argues here that it's only a weird twist of fate -- the meltdown of the global economy -- that has driven Barack Obama to acting like what he terms "Super Prez" . . . the man who will solve everyone's problems through the power of Big Government.

Fineman writes:

Was Obama by nature a closet statist, eager to impose the will of government on every phase of economic activity? Having covered him in the Senate and on the campaign trail, my answer is “no.” . . .

I saw no animosity to the market. I saw and reported on a man who seemed to care about balance — in life, in politics and in philosophy.

The column strikes me as symptomatic of the response of the press to the entire Obama phenomenon: Which are you going to believe -- Obama's rhetoric or their own lying eyes?

Here is a man who -- undisputedly -- hung around with radicals like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres. He's a man who had the most liberal voting record in the entire US Senate. He ran back in Chicago as part of a socialist party.

And yet, when he got to the US Senate -- funny, he didn't talk like a far lefty. And when he ran for President, he sounded so moderate.

Hmmm. Where is the famous supposed skepticism of the press? Perhaps those in the chattering (and writing) class don't remember the hoary old cliche: Actions speak louder than words.