Maureen Dowd is washed up, burnt out, and tired of the competition. Don’t take my word for it. Take hers! The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

She writes two columns a week for the most prestigious newspaper in America, heckling the powerful with her trademark sarcasm while making witty allusions to movies and pop culture.

It’s a dream job for a journalist. But New York Times political columnist Maureen Dowd, on leave since early May to finish her second book, sounds a little burned out.

“It [writing the column] is so stressful that I don’t miss it at all,” she said Wednesday by telephone from Washington. “For me, the hard thing is the psychological pressure of being original. I find that almost impossible.

“You have to hope your readers like your company enough to go along for the ride. There’s just so much opinion out there. It’s a Tower of Babble now, and who’s to say my babble is better than anyone else’s? I don’t know how much longer I can do it.”

Like I said before: Who needs Maureen Dowd?

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Related:

See Lorie Byrd’s excellent Townhall.com piece on women in the blogosphere.

Another cause for MoDo’s despair: the raucous, witty, talented, always original ladies of The Cotillion, who are never at a loss for words.

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MoDo flashbacks from Mark Coffey, Ankle Biting Pundits