Obama's Mayday In Michigan

President Obama gave the commencement speech at Michigan University today and among the things he said were he's troubled by the angry rhetoric of those who are trying to make the case that government is "inherently bad." I'm sorry. Didn't Bill Ayers say that? Didn't the Reverend Wright say that? Didn't Michelle Obama say that? He talked about getting outside your comfort zone and then proceeded to show that he cannot. "(It) troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad. One of my favorite signs from the health care debate was one that read "Keep Government Out Of My Medicare," which is essentially like saying "Keep Government Out Of My Government-Run Health Care." Isn't it funny that he only remembers signs carried at Tea Party gatherings? "For when our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it conveniently ignores the fact in our democracy, government is us," he added. I guess he forgot that his supporters, Ayers, Wright, Farrakhan, Castro, Chavez, the fawning mainstream media and almost every Anti-American group all believe America is a "menacing, threatening foreign entity." Conservatives generally do profess love for our country, while it is the President’s compatriots who do not. And last but not least Obama continues to describe America as a Democracy. He is only partially correct when he says "We, the people, hold in our hands the power to choose our leaders, change our laws, and shape our own destiny." Actually we are a Representative Republic. We get to choose our leaders and those we select get to write and change our laws and determine the destiny of the country. The difference between a Democracy and a Republic is easily demonstrated by the recently passed healthcare bill. If this was a Democracy the bill would have failed because more than half the people of the nation (in many polls) were against it. The bill passed because the representatives we chose passed it even though they knew it was supported by less than half the citizens. It will be interesting to see if Obama can take his own advice: "seek out and listen to opposing views on the issues of the day." He hasn’t done it yet. Maybe he will start today.