Niall Ferguson on Obama: black, lucky

The Harvard historian Niall Ferguson is catching some flak for the opening paragraph of his opinion piece in yesterday's Financial Times:

President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US as he takes a well-earned summer break after just over six months in the world's biggest and toughest job. [emphasis added]

Matthew Yglesias writes: "I cannot believe the Financial Times agreed to run this lead."

On the basis of his productivity alone, it's clear that Ferguson is a fast writer. Writing fast has its hazards.