From the reading recommended in this thread, Here's what I gather:

Bernoulli always works in the absolute sense as it is really just a reiteration of the laws of energy conservation. But the totality of the fluid moved by the foil would have to be considered, which as you know includes fluid in strata quite removed from the surface of the foil, which (probably simplistically) explains why a prediction of lift based solely on Bernoulli disagrees with pressure measurements on the foil surface. Bernoulli does then predict the velocity and pressure of the flow in totality, and at any specific point and strata given knowledge of the complementary parameters for that particular 'blob' of the fluid, but not necessarily how a foil behaves in that total flow. Two 'foils' could perturb the energy state of an airmass equally but produce vastly different amounts of lift by, for example, causing differing amounts of turbulence. So Bernoulli becomes for foils just a meaningless equality like 1 = 1; energy is conserved. We know that; it is always so.

Bernoulli does OTOH, predict well with tubes, where the airflow is constrained. Even in a Venturi with a nice foil shape, Coanda is meaningless as the airstream cannot separate from the surface. Therefore the concept of angle of attack becomes meaningless for Venturis, thus no Coanda.

Coanda effect is the reason the airflow stays attached to a foil's surface as it's pitch (angle of attack) is increased to a point where useful lift begins, but it cannot alone explain how the foil converts kinetic energy of the chordwise flow into lift. If you try to explain that conversion by Coanda alone, you will run into several problems as Steve mentioned, such as the major portion of the acceleration happening in the wrong place and direction.

Basically the flow has to bend as it travels around a foil that is set at a useful AOA. It stays adhered to the foil during this acceleration(change in velocity) because of boundary adhesion and Coanda effect. The change of momentum of it's original velocity causes the pressure drop observed on the lift side. As AOA is increased, more lift force is derived from the flow since the change in the direction of the airflow is greater; a change in direction of motion constitutes an acceleration. The speed of the flow in its original direction of motion remains unchanged, yet that flow has now acquired a new direction as it negotiates the lift side of the foil. Thus its speed increases. A simple vector diagram will illustrate this. The flow actually undergoes continuous change in velocity and speed as it follows the surface of the foil, although in this explanation it sounds as if happens as a singular event (This is where the proponents of the 'longer distance' explanation get sidetracked. It's not the differing distance but the change in velocity! Subtle but real.) More importantly, this creates a conflict between the adhesion of the fluid moving at the surface of the foil and the cohesion of the total fluid mass, with the fluid near the foil becoming rarified as a result. Essentially the opposite is happening on the other side of the foil, though not with equal reaction or lift.

At some AOA, the flow can no longer remain adhered to the surface of the foil, so cohesion overcomes adhesion, and a stall occurs. Lifting foils can only rarify the fluid so much before it breaks away as the flow's momentum overcomes its adhesion by centrifugal force. Interestingly, some Venturis can acheive very low pressures, even approaching absolute vacuum, since the fluid is constrained and cannot break away.

Feel free to correct (I know you will )

Jimbo

P.S.

In a conventional airplane, the lift of the horizontal stabilizer is subtracted from the total lift, not added as someone stated earlier. The higher the wing's AOA, the greater the subtraction. This is one of the attractions of the canard. This is why Saab favors canards for their jets; a canard adds to the total lift by lifting the nose while a conventional tail subtracts lift by pushing down on the tail to raise the nose. Thus canard jets can take off in shorter distances, a useful trait for a small country without giant air force bases with 3 mile runways.