The President Gets Dirty

Some call it a homophobic slur; others, an obscure sexual fetish. For the President of the United States, however, the term “tea bagger” is just another tool to marginalize opponents of his radical agenda. As John Kartch of Americans for Tax Reform reported today, President Obama is quoted in a new book using this derogatory term to describe concerned citizens that make up the mainstream, nonpartisan tea party movement:

President Barack Obama, known for his lectures to others on civility, saw fit to use the obscene and derogatory term “tea-baggers” in a book interview with author Jonathan Alter.

Below is an excerpt from Alter’s new book The Promise: President Obama, Year One, to be released May 18:

“Obama said that the unanimous House vote against the Recovery Act ‘set the tenor for the whole year’: ‘That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans.’ For Obama this was the greatest surprise of 2009.”

This has long been the modus operandi of the far left, from the likes of actress Janeane Garofalo to the commentators on MSNBC and CNN. Yet for the President of the United States to invoke this term is simply stunning, particularly in light of the recently delivered commencement speech in which he heavily critiqued the tenor of political discourse in our age.

His disrespect of the tea party movement is also quite odd given his roots in community organizing. Apparently that line of work is only respectable if it involves advancing far left causes or aiding folks in conspiring to evade taxes while smuggling underage girls into the country for a sex ring. As regular readers know, these were the mission and downfall, respectively, of ACORN, an organization with which Mr. Obama worked closely early on in his career.

The tea party movement consists of a wide range of Americans who, according to recent polls, have a more mainstream vision for the country than the President himself. Shame on you, Mr. President, for denigrating concerned citizens you were elected to serve. Shame on you.