Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel is petrified by the mafia-style brand of hardball politics that the Obama White House practices. (i.e. “The gang”) Did you know he's from Chicago?!

The idea that the right-wing media is trying to portray Obama has some sort of street-fighting ruthless pol strikes me as comical since it's the exact opposite of the impression most Americans seem to have of the centrist, low-key president. The fact that the charge is so far off the mark may be why Strassel has so much trouble filling in the blanks in her column about how “bare-knuckle” the Obama crew is. The examples she points to are really quite lame.

Like this [emphasis added]:

This summer Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl criticized stimulus dollars. Obama cabinet secretaries sent letters to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. One read: “if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to the state, as Senator Kyl suggests,” let us know.

The horror! Cabinet secretaries “sent letters.”

Or this one:

When Sens. Robert Bennett and Lamar Alexander took issue with the administration's czars, the White House singled them out, by name, on its blog.

Oh mercy! The White House singled a senator out by name, on its blog.

If Stressel's going to preach this meme in the future, I suggest she come up with some actual proof of Obama's “bare-knuckle” ways, and leave out the examples of pedestrian politics she breathlessly cites here.