Moe Lane

Basically, it’s that the President made the mistake of punching down just a little bit too hard.  You see, one reason why Presidents have traditionally made fun of themselves at these things is making fun of yourself is politically safe.  When you’re the most powerful person in the room – which the President of the United States invariably is – and you throw a verbal jab at somebody, outside observers have one of two choices on how to take that:

1. The President is a bully by attacking a social/political inferior.
2. The President is interacting with those on more or less the same elevated plane as he is.  He is still above them on the hierarchy, but it is a difference in degree, and not in kind.

So, going after Donald Trump – a man who will not be the next President of the United States, and who will also not be the Republican nominee – does not diminish Trump; it elevates him, which means that it diminishes Obama. (more…)

It was all great fun, I’m sure – but the man has just stepped in it.

[Donald] Trump said he was “concerned” about [Rep. Paul] Ryan’s deficit plan, citing concerns that the plan would “tinker too much with Medicare” and harm senior citizens.

“I think Paul Ryan is too far out front with the issue,” Trump said. “He ought to sit back and relax.”

…Yeah, like that’s gonna fly with the Republican base.  Some of us ain’t filthy rich, Donnie: ‘relaxing’ isn’t exactly an option for us.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

Speaking as somebody who is actually for same-sex marriage: has my side mucked things up enough, or do we want to really go for the gusto and alienate still more people?  She’s not getting tossed, her detractors are not going to get a social conservative crusade declared against her (mostly because the social conservatives that they think that they were aiming at don’t actually, you know, exist), and now we get to be reminded that the current President is prepared to do anything for same-sex marriage except actually stand up for it.  Let’s quit while we’re behind, OK?

Moe Lane

PS: Do you know what would help?  Going out and working to pass actual SSM legislation such as Maine’s (via Slublog).  That doesn’t bother people like judicial fiat or ‘shut up, he explained’ does.  Strange but true.

Crossposted to RedState.