Last year around this time, the left was predicting an omnipotent presidency that would usher in a new way of "being" on the planet. It has turned out to be a wilting and amateurish one, full of commonplace follies and tired initiatives.

The party-crasher story is emblematic of Obama's already diminished presidency. The most recent report about the party crashers adds a new layer to the farce: the party crashers can actually claim plausible and encouraging interactions with a "Pentagon official."

ABC casts the story in terms favorable to the White House: "E-Mails Show Salahis Never Got White House State Dinner Invite From Pentagon." But the real story is how close they came to receiving one. A "special assistant to the Secretary of...