'Freedom' is just another novel for Obama not to get

Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom" soared in sales after President Barack Obama was reported to have received an advance copy at a Martha's Vineyard bookstore.

Well, per the title of this post, Frank Rich pointedly says "Freedom" is our equivalent of "The Great Gatsby" or "Bonfire of the Vanities" and that Obama just doesn't get it, or his most recent speech, the "end of Iraq comment" Oval Office vomitoria, wouldn't have been the limp dishwater that it was.

Rich fires both barrels:

What was so grievously missing from Obama’s address was any feeling for what has happened to our country during the seven-and-a-half-year war whose “end” he was marking. That legacy of anger and grief is what “Freedom” mainlines to its readers. ... The other American casualties of Iraq include the credibility of both political parties, neither of which strenuously questioned the rush to war. ... And yet here we are, slouching toward yet another 9/11 anniversary, still waiting for a correction, with even our president, an eloquent Iraq war opponent, slipping into denial.

It's well worth a read.