stick a fork in her.

Anita Dunn is done. Worry (or rejoice) not taxpaying Americans. Her household will continue to be working on your dime. Robert Bauer , her husband, became White House councel today. The revolving door hath revolved. The paychecks and invitations to State dinners and teas with Michelle and her 4 million assistants will continue to arrive.

So what cooked Anita? Who knows for certain. Her admitted "admiration" of Mao - known to many the world over for his little red book and killing 70 million - certainly did not help. Her "War on Fox News" (why is everything a "war on" something?) was a dumb move - but she hardly went off to battle alone. Emmanuel and Axelrod are front and center in that endeavor and they still work at 1600.

Let me posit a third choice for the trap door opening on Dunn: She was bad at her job. She was sent out to fight by Obama, Rahm, and Axelrod and in the heat of battle she failed her boss and comrades. Her bumbling response to a simple question about MSNBC's bias made her look biased, mean and a little dumb. When a tape of her telling students that she most admired Mother Teresa and Chairman Mao, of all people, her explanation of it was the opposite of what the Obama White House can tolerate: It was smug.

The Mao remark alone did not do her in. It was her absurd explanation of it. She claimed she was "being ironic". She wasn't. Literally. She might have argued that she was being sarcastic. Or silly. Or flip. But she clearly wasn't being any of those things either. She meant it. She admires Mao.

In American politics the more offensive the remark, the more direct the explanation must be - true or not. If she'd explained the comment this way: My response to that question was not complete. I meant to say in my younger years I read Mao and thought him wise in my naivete. As I've gotten older, Mother Teresa's compassion became the centering idea of my public service. This too would have been a lie. But it would have worked.

"Ironic" is one of those words people of accomplishment, but middling intelligence, throw around. They presume it befuddles those of lesser intelligence and believe it makes them appear smarter than they, in fact, are. Based on her defense of her Mao remark, Dunn has no idea what irony is. But, by god, it sounds Ivy League and uptown. Smart people knew I was being ironic. Sheesh.

Dunn has always been something quite mediocre: A political functionary. The one capital crime of any functionary is making the boss look bad. Ever since the first whiff of smug emanated from the Obamas (with the "bitter, clingy" and "finally proud" comments) the Obama machine has been on guard to quash any implication of arrogance. They have not been 100% successful - but they've kept things in check. Obama is still personally popular even as his policies' poll numbers have sunk.

Having proved that she was neither self assured or smooth in the heat of the moment - she had to go. White House Communications director Anita Dunn is clearly an oxymoron. If you are going to take on the nation's largest news network your answers better be anticipated and well planned. NOT plugging a killer's philosophy in public ought to be obvious. She was canned for the most banal of reasons: she wasn't up to the job. Now, considering all the sound and fury about Dunn of late, THAT is ironic.

She will be mean to the end, though, - today taking digs at Palin as she clears her desk. Elite snottery and cheap shottery do so often go hand in hand.