The Young Turks

I know you must know the answer to this.

His is the contentment and freedom that comes with  having no empathy for other people.  He's rich, his pals are rich, and the effects of his decisions will insure that the "right people" approve of him.  Being poor and powerless is just a vague concept to him.  That's something that happens to other people, like schistosomiasis.  He's never known it, he's been isolated from it all his life and I'll bet he doesn't see any point in even trying to imagine what it's like.

I think his light-heartedness as of late is because he feels he can walk away soon and let someone else deal with the problems he's created.  This was the whole purpose of the "surge".  It was calculated to buy time until he could walk away.  This "stimulus" package is meant to accomplish the same goal.  Note that neither has the effect of permantly solving the problem.

In short I think his attitude is:  "Okay, so a bunch of people are pissed at me.  Hey, Ill still be rich, all this global warming and war and economic stuff isn't going to cramp my style, or my family's, or my pals.  10 more months and I'm sipping beers and clearing brush and I don't have to listen to no intelligence wonks screaming about "Bin Laden this, or Bin Laden that".