"President Barack Obama is a beguiling but confounding figure.   As he said of himself in "The Audacity of Hope," "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."   It is indeed audacious that he should proclaim this consciously disingenuous attribute.   And as one reads his inaugural address, it is hard not to conclude that it was crafted shrewdly to perpetuate such confusion.  

Run-of-the-mill politicians try to hide their duplicity.   Only the most gifted of that profession brag that they intend to confound and confuse the public.   Such an effort is beyond ingenious; it is brazenly ingenuous.

And it is working.   Many of my fellow conservative commentators are embarrassingly eager to search Obama's words, groveling for hopeful signs that he is not a radical intent on changing the face and nature of our republic."