Detroit Free Press: Obama Ushers in Era of Oppression of Free Speech?

Looks like it is just starting to dawn on some lefties that Obama is ushering in an era of oppression of free speech. So it seems for Laura Varon Brown of the Detroit Free Press, at least. Oh, she isn't saying that Obama himself is trampling on free speech, but she is starting to understand that the left's penchant for political correctness is serving the function as a sort of self-imposed oppression no matter what Obama says. It's getting so bad, according to Brown, that any criticism of Obama is treated as akin to treason... at least it is in the "circles" she runs in, anyway.

Brown can count herself in the same boat as the late-night comedy shows that are finding that any criticism of The One is verboten to their left-wing audiences. Even the supposedly unshakable Bill Maher, who congratulates himself on his bravery for taking on the establishment, has found that he's had to shy from criticizing Obama. These people are seeing that attacking "The Man" is not so funny when it is their man in the crosshairs. Suddenly such folks have a new-found respect for the office and a more circumspect behavior toward the president is now du jour.

So, back to our friend Brown. She is finding herself a tad miffed that any criticism of the Obamamessiah at cocktail parties or around the water cooler is treated as the forbidden subject. She feels that her "right of self-expression is being squashed." Brown finds that even Obama's Special Olympics gaffe of a few months ago didn't elicit the sort of wild attacks that it would have if it should have been Bush in the same situation.

Can you imagine the uproar had Bush said that? He'd be banished from bowling alleys for eternity. His bowling average and IQ would have immediately been compared in Twitter messages demanding his resignation.

But instead, media and water cooler conversations the next day were about bowling scores and how tough the game can be. Anyone bringing up the insensitivity of the president's remark heard, "Come on, give the guy a chance. So he said one thing wrong. Anyone could have said something like that." End of discussion.

Yeah, imagine that, eh? The One is being given a pass for any and all gaffes even though Bush would have been crucified for the same thing. We've been saying that here for some time.

Brown feels that there are things that Obama deserves to be jabbed over, nonetheless.

Don't get me wrong, there is a whole lot to like about Obama. I want his smart ideas and policies to work. I love his youth, his inclusiveness and the way he cuts through the minutiae of public policy. But when auto execs get the boot, foreign meanies mock us and Special Olympians are insulted, I'm sorry, he rates some disapproving chatter.

Sadly for Brown, if she mentions anything of the kind among her sort of friends, she understands that she will get the cold shoulder.

So much for the more tolerant, more caring, more civilized, more freedom loving left. So much for the post-partisan era the president claimed he wanted!

All I can say is that Brown should wait and see the new era of oppression that Obama's FCC will engineer against talk radio before she imagines that free speech is only an endangered species around the water cooler!

(Photo credit: isitinus.org)