Wakin up in Vegas

Well, President Obama is once again in trouble with the taxpayers of Las Vegas.

Mired in recession, the burghers of the city were not happy to hear the President tell New Hamphsire residents:



"When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices. It's time your government did the same."

This isn't the first time that our President has commented on what goes on in America's premier city of all things gaming. Last summer he said that those who got taxpayer bailout money shouldn't be using it on "junkets" to Las Vegas.

What all the President's talk of bipartisanship couldn't achieve, the likely off-handed comments did. Republicans and Democrats from the state have united in criticizing Obama for bashing the state industry.

OK, let's take a deep breath here and ask ourselves -- would we want Uncle Freddie Mac or Aunt Fannie Mae going off to spend our money in casinos? Do we want the errant ex-husband who owes alimony or our twenty-five year old daughter gambling money that they don't have so that the residents of Las Vegas will have jobs?

Tough, isn't it? I'm guessing that, however bad we feel for the people of Las Vegas, we know there is a lot of truth in what Obama said.

I'm more interested in why he said it. Dunno about you, but I flashed back to the time when Obama apologized to Nancy Reagan for saying that she had seances in the White House.

Obama doesn't crack a lot of jokes, at least in public. When he gives speeches, whether he's speaking to the American people or to Congress (I guess they qualify as people) he often sounds like a professor of chemistry explaining the periodic table to a class of kindergartners -- and wondering why they don't get it.

But every now and again, this little imp inside erupts -- and it's kind of sad, in a way, that we can't even allow him to look like, well, most of the rest of us without slicing and dicing him for the few times he has misspoken.

Eliminate the mistakes, and his reserve would be almost unbearable.

So let's cut the guy a break, huh?

And maybe even hope for a few more times when he deviates from the script.

Otherwise, it's going to be a very long three years.