President Obama screwed up twice in the last day or so. The most recent will probably get the most press. I also don’t think it is nearly as important. He said that Kamala Harris from California was brilliant and hard working and all that stuff. And then he added, “She also happens to be, by far the best-looking attorney general.” Ouch. Not good. Not appropriate. And all that.

But Obama is, after all, a man, and we are like that. Certainly, he needs to apologize and move on. And as Jonathan Bernstein notes, “A jovial ‘Michelle says I screwed up’ won’t do it.” Indeed.

But Obama did something else recently that he can’t so easily take away, because it reflects who he is. Reuters reported, Obama Cutting Own Pay in Solidarity with Federal Workers. How much is he cutting his pay? A whopping 5%! How will he ever survive?

Token gestures like this really bug me. My understanding is that federal workers getting furloughed will be losing 20% of their pay. And they make a lot less than Obama makes. Most of their money is not discretionary. So Obama will not be suffering at all and yet he wants credit for suffering along with the prols?!

I have an idea: why doesn’t he donate all the money he’s made from his books to charity. That would hurt and then maybe he would feel just a little of the pain that federal employees (and many others) are feeling.