Scandal Schmandal

I’m sure you’ve been watching the news and heard about the “protests” against Obama speaking at Notre Dame—their reason being that a pro-choice President should not be giving a commencement address at a Catholic institution. Conservative media spoke from the perspective of how outrageous it is that the university is allowing Obama to speak, despite the cries of their community. Liberal media spoke of how outrageous it is that the community protest our President being able to speak to an educational institution because of their own prejudices. Non-partisan media have made a big deal of just what a big scandal the whole deal is, regardless of the reason. Even the Wikipedia entry for University of Notre Dame has been edited to include the controversy, suggesting that this event is now an integral part of the university’s 160 year history.

What the media haven’t covered is the actual commencement address. When the extreme minority of community in South Bend who did oppose Obama’s commencement address spoke out, a much larger part of the community reacted harshly. When a few people inside the ceremony interrupted the President’s speech with pro-life rhetoric, they were very quickly drowned out by a huge unison chant of “Yes we can, Yes we can,” the rallying cry of Obama supporters. The fact is that the vast majority of students, faculty, and community members seemed to be honored to have the President grace them with his company, and though they haven’t been given the same voice as the protesters, have tried to make it clear that they were proud of their University’s tradition of attracting such influential speakers.

I guess the truth just isn’t as salacious.

All Hail the Conservatives

One interesting byproduct of Obama taking office is that it tarnishes the reputation of liberals. You notice that? I certainly have. Obama’s pretty far to the left—I’d go so far to say that a majority of Americans are to the right of him ideologically, if only slightly, but because he’s a true president (lower-case), he takes more conservative opinions into consideration.

Meanwhile, liberal pundits like Maddow, Olbermann, Randi Rhodes et al are starting to look like freaks and assholes. They’ve wasted no time sharply criticizing Obama for not being critical enough. One of the people on Countdown last night went so far as to say that Obama should be lumped in with Cheney and Ashcroft as being pro-torture, because he has not vocally and unwaveringly called for their immediate arrest and detainment. I’ve heard a few liberals (they’re literally lying around on the street here) rant about how Obama’s a traitor because he’s still going to spend the bailout money on businesses instead of giving it back.

So for all of us who tend to be in the center ideologically, all these liberals who were on the same side of the spectrum as us when compared to Bush are starting to sound like a bunch of ideological dipshits, while people like Shepard Smith and Wolf Blitzer are starting to make some sense.

Obama's First Controversy

Well, this is a first in my lifetime, and I mean that literally. Obama has released his first budget, for $775 billion, including $300 billion in tax cuts. The controversy? Democrats as a whole are taking credit for the budget, as it clearly is in the best interests of Democrats everywhere. Meanwhile Republicans are boasting their influence on the President-Elect, as the budget is clearly in the best interests of Republicans everywhere.

In other words, Obama hasn’t even taken office yet (he’s submitting the budget now so he can approve it in his first month in office) and the biggest problem with his first budget is that it benefits so many people that it doesn’t leave any room for partisanship.