From last night’s “All-Stars.”

On the G-20 summit:

The important meeting was with China to set up what will essentially be a G-2, ongoing meetings between the leaders of the two largest national economies in the world. That’s important.
What I was struck by, however, was what came out of the meeting with the Russians, where Obama persisted in his habit, which is incessant, of denigrating American foreign policy before him, when he said that for the last several years relations between Russia and the United States have been allowed to “drift.” That’s how he put it.
Drift? Russia invaded Georgia. Russia threatened to put missiles in Europe to threaten our allies, the Poles and the Czechs. Russia gave a bribe, $2 billion worth, to Kyrgyzstan, to kick us out of our air base in Manas, which has injured our war effort in Afghanistan.
The idea that somehow there was an evenhanded neglect of relations or we’re equally responsible is simply not so. And if he didn’t want to blame the Russians — it’s their regressiveness that’s the reason for the coldness in our relations, if he didn’t want to say that openly in his meeting, he should have said nothing.
It is not a good idea. He’s the president of the United States. He owns American history, and if he won’t defend it, he out to at least not denigrate it in public and give our adversaries ammunition in attacking us.

On the too-close-to-call special election in New York’s 20th Congressional District:

You can spin this every which way. And…it will be over-spun because it’s all we have. So we’re going to have to go with it.
But I look at it a little more simply. I’m no Richard Feynman, but I can do elementary arithmetic. Five months ago the Democrats won this seat with 62 percent. Last night it was a split 50-50. That’s a 12 percent drop in less than half a year.
And I think it’s explained by the fact, among other things, that the magical mystery tour of Obama is over, and that charismatic era is done.
And now what he is, still popular. He is on his honeymoon. It’s very early in the administration. You would not expect at day 72 a repudiation of his administration. It’s a little early to declare a presidency failed, although I would like to do it. But it’s not reflected in this election.
He is still popular, and that’s why I think he has got his candidate is slightly ahead.
The Republicans I think could look at this and say that given the fact that they had been crushed here in the last election, it’s an improvement, and it shows it even only two months out. The sheen and the glow of the presidency has worn off.