Doris Kearns Goodwin is, to say the very least, not a creature of the right. She is a leftist historian and biographer of Presidents - notably Lincoln and LBJ and, infamously, JFK - who has, since the 2008 campaign, been a political insider and confidante of President Barack Obama. That makes her casual statement during MSNBC's coverage of the Pope's DC visit all the more startling - and cutting.

Goodwin was asked what she thought about the historical importance of the Pope's visit, and the reception he was receiving from Americans in particular, when she offered an assessment that cuts right against her favorite president's current role as Leader of the Free World. Note that word: Leader.

"I think at a time when so many of us in America are hungering for leadership, what we're seeing in the Pope is a true leader. I mean, somebody who is accessible, as we see with that warmth. Somebody who's got empathy, who sees things from other people's point of view. Somebody who's learned from his own failures as he says he did when he was too autocratic in the early days. And it's an extraordinary thing, it shows that that's what we want in leaders."

Ouch! This hits on every talking point treasured by the Obama devoted: empathy, leadership, inspiration, hope... the entire Obama pitch from 2008. How times have changed.

It seems even Obama's would-be hagiographer, the apparent voice behind the constant Lincoln comparisons, finds Mr. Obama lacking in ways the anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage head of the Catholic church is not. That's going to leave a mark.