Resentments

Has Obama been treated worse than his predecessors? Jay Cost doesn't think so. Writing in the Weekly Standard, Cost takes a historical look at past presidents.

The point is that politics ain’t beanbag -- and it never has been. That is because our political divide is rooted in enduring class, social, and religious cleavages, as well as profoundly different views of the good life. A lot is at stake in our politics, and the First Amendment offers a wide latitude for political speech. Unsurprisingly, the two parties hit each other quite hard.

For President Obama to imply that criticisms of his presidency are worse than usual, or not reducible to fundamental ideological and cultural differences, betrays a stunning, self-serving ignorance of American history. But then, what else could we expect from this president?

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