Silly Little Country

Obama is a Better Man than Jimmy Carter

And I do not mean to be damning with faint praise here. I think Obama got the tone right here.

The "overwhelming part" of the American population is much more concerned with how health care reform will affect them, Obama stressed, according to an interview excerpt released by ABC News' "This Week" program.
The "biggest driver" for the intense opposition to his administration's proposals, Obama told the network, is likely from people who are "passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right."
The president similarly told NBC's "Meet the Press" that it is an argument "that's gone on for the history of this republic -- and that is, what's the right role of government? How do we balance freedom with our need to look after one another?"

And it would be easy to go farther and point out that calling the rallies "Tea Parties" focuses exactly on unwelcome government intrusion and taxation, to which the last few centuries should add a legitimate skepticism about the capabilities of government and regulators.
Of course everyone speaks in code, and my guess is that Jimmy Carter was too. When he expostulated about opposition to Obama today, he was simply telling us that he knows the reason people opposed his stupid policies (especially his stupid energy policies) the opposition was just really upset at finding they had a president who was a peanut farmer, or an engineer, or something, but surely not at his bad policies.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 2:46 PM