Dear Editor,

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President Obama’s recent remarks have stirred quite a bit of unnecessary controversy.

Sure, it’s insensitive to speak condescendingly of the Special Olympics, and, by implication, Special Olympians, but aren’t we all insensitive at times?

I hope that my letter will not be received by your readership as a partisan defense of a partisan President.

I’m simply fed up with the mountains that are consistently made of molehills by our national media.

Shouldn’t we be relieved? Many of us were worried at the fact that Mr. Obama presented himself as some sort of redemptive, moral figure.

Isn’t it a relief to finally see him on the same plane as we see our friends and families?

The president is not a national moral role model. The president never has been, and the president never will be.

The Queen of England is a national moral role model. We quit that country in 1776, officially.

Some of your readers may be wondering: what’s my point?

My point is that, in this country, which we are lucky to inhabit, we can either talk about politics like children, who are easily offended, and argue at length in order to hear themselves speak … or, we can argue amongst ourselves as rational thinking adults.

The president deserves our continued support. He ought to be forgiven. He ought to be allowed to do his work.

Has he had an affair with his secretary? I think not.

Do let us move on, as a country, together.

(Citizenship is our day job.)

‘

James William Mathews

UMass Student

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