At the beginning of today’s Impromptus, I say that I look forward to having a normal president again — or rather, a president whom people treat normally. A president whom the press criticizes, and gangs up on. A president whom comedians joke about.
And a president who doesn’t treat all criticism, and all opposition, as illegitimate. (I’m talking about criticism of, and opposition to, himself, of course.)
After I wrote my column, I started reading this article by Michael Eric Dyson. I have not gotten beyond the second paragraph, which speaks of the “unprecedented acrimony” faced by Barack Obama.
Huh?
I looked up the author’s bio, or at any rate his Wikipedia entry. He was born in 1958, and was therefore an adult during the Reagan administration, as well as during the Bush 43 administration.
Obama faces “unprecedented acrimony”? No, he is beset by wet kisses, compared with those two presidents . . .
P.S. And with Bill Clinton too, actually. Also, Bush 41 was attacked much more scurrilously, and relentlessly, than is generally remembered today. (I’m sure Barbara remembers.)