Obama: Whose side is he on?

Whole doctoral dissertations could be devoted to the question of what makes President Obama angry and what does not. His Tuesday broadside against Donald Trump stood in marked contrast to Sunday's somewhat-cold response to the Orlando massacre. This is a pattern.

Mr. Obama did not name Trump, referring to him only as a "politician who tweets and appears on cable news shows." I'm not inclined to defend Trump, and will not do so now; his notion that we bar all Muslims from traveling to the United States is laden with unintended consequences. But President Obama's studied refusal to acknowledge the reality of Islamic-inspired violence has helped to create the Trump phenomenon. In fact, it may well be the greatest contribution to Trump's success. Some say that presidential elections are often referenda on the last guy: Carter was the anti-Nixon; Reagan was the anti-Carter; Clinton was the anti-Bush; and Obama was the anti-Bush. Thus, Trump is the anti-Obama.