Where's an Open Mic When We Need It?

When President Obama blurted out to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he couldn't do serious business during an election year, the New York Times characterized it as a "moment of political candor." It seems to me, actually, to be a moment of political contempt—for the issues at hand as well as for the demos itself. Mr. Medvedev meanwhile was in familiar territory: Dissembling is the routine of the elected Russian dictatorship.