Obama takes direct aim at anti-government rhetoric
"ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - President Barack Obama took aim Saturday at the angry rhetoric of those who denigrate government as "inherently bad" and said their off-base line of attack ignores the fact that in a democracy, "government is us."
"In Obama's 31-minute address to what the White House said was his biggest audience since the inauguration, the president made no mention of Palin or the tea party movement. He did say that debates about the size and role of government are as old as the republic itself.
"But what troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad," said Obama, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree. "When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us."
See how it works? He doesn't come right out and say that Palin and the various TEA-Party groups are bad. Instead he lashes out at some vague, undefined group who, "say that all government is bad." I didn't hear anyone say that all government was bad, and I'm a news junkie. His theory is that you, the reader, are too damned stupid to discern the difference.
What a weak effort, Mr. President. Verbal slight-of-hand doesn't become you.