Obama was elected, twice, by the American people.writes Ann Althouse (thanks to Instapundit).
We studied him. We listened to him. He is surrounded by advisers and checked by Congress and the press.Remember election night, when conservatives the country over — not least Mitt Romney himself —
became increasingly flabbergasted about how badly the Republican
candidate was faring?It turns out that Obama was elected with the help of a double-standard-wielding mainstream media, along with, it is becoming increasingly clear, help from places such as the FBI and the IRS.
We studied him. We listened to him.Did we study Obama and listen to Obama? Or did we study and listen to the MSM's take on Obama (along with their takes on Romney, Bush, Cheney, etc etc etc), to the MSM's narrative?
And how about those computer nerds who somehow devised algorithms to help Obama win? Any chance that they had help in developing those programs from, say, IRS honchos (sorry, IRS low-level employees, I meant to say) and their government computers?
that's the kind of thought pattern I suspect is developing out there in the minds of these computer technicians. Look at the contempt, the grandiosity, and the recklessness.I am 100% — one hundred percent — against Snowden; at the same time, do not confuse him with those who support him: there are times when contempt is the natural response — the natural thought pattern — to those in power and when, indeed, it is outright called for…
To conclude: Yes, Ann, it's good to give those who govern us respect; it's also good for those who govern us to respect us, the citizenry, in return, and for us to make a note of it when they — consistently — fail to do so.
Update: From the comments — Radegunda adds:
Did Ann Althouse really not notice that anyone who made a serious effort to "study" Obama or "check" his record was loudly and insistently branded a racist?
WHEN WOMEN COMPLAIN ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CHIVALRY, I’m prone to point out that chivalry was a system, one that imposed obligations of behavior on women and girls as well as on men. Likewise, when David Brooks complains that Edward Snowden is an unmediated man, I must note that in the civil society Brooks invokes, Presidents and other leaders were also mediated; they were not merely checked by Congress, courts, etc., but they were also checked by themselves, and a sense of what was proper that went beyond “how much can I get away with now?” Obama, too, is unmediated in that sense. That Brooks couldn’t see beyond his sharply-creased pants to notice that when it was apparent to keen observers even before the 2008 election is not to his credit. If the system of civil society has failed, it is in no small part because its guardians — notably including Brooks — have also failed.
