Ben Shapiro Grows up and gets less interesting

Ben Shapiro has, it seems to me, always wanted to be a thinking man's columnist. He's more interested in being Robert Novak or George will than being Doug Giles or Ann Coulter. That hasn't prevented him from saying some shocking things from time to time (in most cases shockingly stupid), but most of those were seeming aberrations, not a deliberate style. In contrast, Coulter is aiming directly for the most controversial and hateful things she can say.

The upshot to all this is that in the long run Shapiro is trying to be dull. And as he's grown up he's gotten better at being dull. Which is why I don't write him about him nearly as much as I used to. His latest article compares President Obama to President Jimmy Carter, somewhat ineptly, but also dully.

Shapiro points out that both Carter and Obama hate Israel, which in this context means they disagree with the Israeli right wing. Many Israelis disagree with the Israeli right wing, and one wonders if they also hate Israel.

Then there's this bit.

Carter surrendered Afghanistan to the Soviets; Obama is on the verge of surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban.

Not exactly. Obama remains committed to Afghanistan despite many in his party and on the left believing it's time to pull out.

The article continues in this vein noting that both Obama and Carter caused inflation (not really), both tried to mess with the economy (sort of true, but not a negative), and both came from racist backgrounds (yeah, that one is pretty convincing if you think Obama hates white people).