Rolling Stone has a fascinating, sprawling interview with President Obama, who sees the tea party as an amalgam, says Gen. Stanley McChrystal didn’t meet his standards, and defends his administration as “the most successful … in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.”

The interview exemplifies why Obama is such a frustrating character. On the one hand, he is so casually brilliant that he can kibitz about the brevity of the journalistic golden age between Hearst and Fox News. At the same time, he is dense as a stone when it comes to his economic team (Larry Summers didn’t work at Goldman Sachs, he protests — no, he just pocketed its $135,000 payoff, er, speaking fee).

The president is clearly frustrated that he hasn’t gotten credit for his legislative accomplishments. And even if he can understand that his base is disappointed, Obama does not believe such disappointment excuses apathy in the coming election, as you can see below. — PZS