Gosh, why didn't we think of that before?

A piece in the Sunday New York Times from Emory University psychology Professor Drew Westen is generating some buzz in the blogosphere. I linked it here, but I don't recommend reading it. It's largely a self-serving crybaby rant about how evil Wall Street and the conservatives are, and how the liberal left's dreams have been dashed by the reality of Obama. It's a singularly unimpressive piece (though par for the course for the pages of the Times).

But this is a telling passage.

Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted "present" (instead of "yea" or "nay") 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues...Perhaps those of us who were so enthralled with the magnificent story he told in “Dreams From My Father” appended a chapter at the end that wasn’t there — the chapter in which he resolves his identity and comes to know who he is and what he believes in.

You mean, maybe someone should have been actually vetted before being elected to the Presidency? What a concept! Too bad that no one said anything about it at the time, huh?