Doubly Standard Procedure Watch: Obama

You have to love the Democrats. The economy is President Bush and the Republicans’ fault. Yet, the coronation/beatification of Barack Obama is going to cost upwards of $150 million.

Yet, when it was President Bush’s inauguration in 2005, people with a D after their name were worried about how it would look:

In 2005, Reps. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Jim McDermott, D-Wash., asked Bush to show a little less pomp and be a little more circumspect at his party.

"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," the two lawmakers wrote in a letter. "During World War I, President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."

The thinking was that, with the nation at war, excessive celebration was inappropriate. Four years later, the nation is still at war. Unemployment has risen sharply. And Obama pressed Congress to release the second half of a $700 billion bailout package in hopes of rescuing a faltering banking industry.

Oh, yeah, it’s always different when it’s our guy.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, educators are on the lookout for inappropriate chatter about the next President.

"Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated," Superintendent Kevin Bright said in an e-mail sent to parents Monday, Jan. 12.

The district, he said, expects students and staff to show respect for President-elect Obama and the incoming administration, as well as President Bush and the outgoing administration, and recognize that "while the election is a competitive process, our nation's greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country."

I’m pulling out my pointed hat with the stars on it, and I’m going to make a prediction. I predict that Superintendent Kevin Bright never issued an email telling staff and students he expected them to show respect to for President Bush and his administration at any time during the last 8 years.

I’m also going to bet that Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid can’t be bothered to scream about censorship or the crushing of dissent, since, you know, we’re talking about Their President.

Doubly Standard Procedure. It's the New True!