Putting a finger on it

Star Tribune reporter Baird Helgeson is nothing if not loyal, but give him credit for this much -- he finally did get around to mentioning a detail about the stagecraft involved in President Obama's highly scripted sojourn in the Twin Cities: 

Obama came to Minnesota after Twin Cities wife and mother Rebekah Erler wrote to him about the hardships of raising a family coming out of the Great Recession.

Obama ate cheeseburgers with Erler on Thursday and sprinkled anecdotes of her life throughout his visit, including in his speech at Lake Harriet.

“It’s amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to,” she wrote in her letter to the president. “We’re a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

Obama used Erler’s story to make a larger point about the country.

“That describes the American people,” he said. “We, too, are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

Republicans criticized Obama for highlighting Erler’s story, noting that she was a Democratic field organizer in Washington state.

Emphasis mine. Okay, it was paragaph 28 of a 30-paragraph story, but at least Helgeson got around to mentioning it. The point of the presidential visit to our region was to highlight how the Leader of the Free World is listening to the concerns of citizens, which he demonstrated by attending a $10,000 a plate fundraising dinner after he was done noshing with Ms. Erler and sampling the fare at the Grand Ole Creamery, tying up traffic during the rush hour in the process.

Do you really believe that our President is really listening to people? There's ample evidence that he's not listening. I'd have been impressed if he'd come to Minneapolis and spent an hour with someone from the opposing party. Usually, when he's asked to listen to someone who might disagree with him, you get something like this:

The value of nonverbal communication

If you think I'm not being fair, or that the image is ambiguous, try this one:

Let me be clear

Or this one:

In dreams, I walk with you

Or this one:

Okay, maybe he's popping a zit on this one

And the larger message we get from the Obama administration is more like this:

Love means never having to say you're sorry

The Leader of the Free World is under no obligation to listen to an old mossback like me. He's got plenty of people who surround him who are always willing to confirm his worldview and to adore him. And he'll always have Baird Helgeson, and Dana Milbank, and E. J. Dionne, and the various editorial staffs of major American newspapers, who are always willing to extol the One's many virtues. Never mind that the Middle East is ablaze or that the economy is in reverse. Never mind everything else. It's all good. He's listening. He just told you.