If you watched Obama’s campaign appearance yesterday – the one you were told would be a historic speech detailing the President’s plans for deficit reduction – you might remember this passage:
The other day I received a letter from a man in Florida. He started off by telling me he didn’t vote for me and he hasn’t always agreed with me. But even though he’s worried about our economy and the state of our politics, he said,
“I still believe. I believe in that great country that my grandfather told me about. I believe that somewhere lost in this quagmire of petty bickering on every news station, the ‘American Dream’ is still alive…
We need to use our dollars here rebuilding, refurbishing and restoring all that our ancestors struggled to create and maintain…We as a people must do this together, no matter the color of the state one comes from or the side of the aisle one might sit on.”
The President has a habit of dipping into his mailbag to find letters from constituents that support his agenda. Most politicians do it, now and then. But this particular letter sounds strangely familiar in its tone. It’s ostensibly a letter from the south-eastern reaches of flyover country, written by someone who didn’t vote for Obama and doesn’t always agree with him. Hey, wasn’t there a guy just like that in Obama’s 2012 campaign kickoff video?
It looks like this is going to be one of the major themes in the Obama re-election effort. It’s okay to disagree with the president! Don’t think he’s unpopular because a lot of your friends strongly disagree with him – they’re probably going to vote for him anyway! Isn’t it remarkable that an American president would make this a recurring motif in his campaign?
You are permitted to disagree with Barack Obama, without fear of banishment from polite society… as long as you vote for him. As long as you let him extract as much tax money from your pocket as he thinks he needs. As long as you stop complaining about high gas prices, sell your gas-guzzling SUV, and buy an expensive new hybrid minivan. As long as you consider a problem “solved” once he gives a speech about it. As long as you surrender the nation’s fiscal health, and the physical health of your family, to his czars and commissions.
As long as you obey.
