Althouse: "P.S. I know you're doing your best."

January 18, 2013

"P.S. I know you're doing your best."

8-year-old Grant reaches out to President Obama:

58 comments:

m stone said...: p.p.s. Grant

Your brain is not nearly fully developed, but we do know you can read democrat fluff. You will make a great liberal someday unless reality intervenes.; 1/18/13, 7:48 PM
Gary Kirk said...: Is this the point at which we cry?; 1/18/13, 7:50 PM
bagoh20 said...: I think he's doing his best too.

Obama recently said about the movements represented by Lincoln and MLK "..."are the only reason that it's possible for me to be inaugurated."

I agree with that too.; 1/18/13, 7:51 PM
Deirdre Mundy said...: Dang it, Anne! I saw the 'Hot Air' tag and though it was going to be a spoof. I'm disappointed. You need a 'Not Satire' tag!; 1/18/13, 7:52 PM
Revenant said...: I think someone at the White House press office has has confused their "we must protect the children" cliche with "we must listen to the children".

You can always manipulate people with a good ol' Think Of The Children gambit. But who, outside of 60s folk singers, thinks taking advice from children is a good move?; 1/18/13, 7:54 PM
el polacko said...: "i know it's a free country...BUT"
if that doesn't sum up the left/dem/prog's views i don't know what does.
p.s. this use of an 8-year-old is sickening.; 1/18/13, 7:58 PM
Yu-Ain Gonnano said...: Someone needs to tell Obama that, for all practical purposes, machine guns have been banned since 1934.

I congratulate him on his successful creation of a time machine to secure his ban. Can he now leave us alone?; 1/18/13, 8:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Kid looks like a cross between a young Bill Gates and Damien from "The Omen".; 1/18/13, 8:05 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I thought it was pronounced 'Newton.'

And, as the great Noah Vanderhoff once said, 'Kids know dick.'

I adore kids; I have four and I teach other people's all day, but that doesn't mean I ask their advice when making adult decisions.

My eight-year-old wants to own a car dealership when she grows up so she can give people cars for free. Which, come to think of it, sounds just about right for President Santa. Maybe she should join his Cabinet.; 1/18/13, 8:06 PM
bagoh20 said...: "I know it's a free country...",

because I think I heard someone say that once.; 1/18/13, 8:07 PM
tim maguire said...: I think America is ready to embrace the governing philosophy of an eight year old. They elect Democrats, don't they?; 1/18/13, 8:11 PM
Irene said...: "P.S. I know you're doing your best."

This plays to the people who think "effort" should factor into the determination of a grade.; 1/18/13, 8:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Re: "And, as the great Noah Vanderhoff once said, 'Kids know dick."

I didn't know that was Sandusky's first name. Go figure.; 1/18/13, 8:14 PM
Anonymous said...: So, no children wrote in against more gun control?

C'mon.; 1/18/13, 8:15 PM
Palladian said...: Childhood in the West is sort of like living in an oppressive nanny state: everything you do is controlled and regulated by "benevolent" dictators, everything you need is given to you by others who must work to earn it. What the fuck would a child know about freedom?

Children are not free. The know only oppression, regulation, emotion, welfare. No wonder the Democrats like them so much: they're their ideal voters.; 1/18/13, 8:21 PM
Anonymous said...: It was a simple misunderstanding: children want more gum control: most bubble gum is woefully inaccurate.; 1/18/13, 8:21 PM
Patrick said...: What Palladian said.; 1/18/13, 8:25 PM
bagoh20 said...: Gum Control, Exactly!

I have never been shot, even once, that I can remember, but I have had a number of good times ruined by errant gum.

We need to amend the constitution to say simply "If you put it in your mouth, you have to swallow."; 1/18/13, 8:28 PM
chickelit said...: Well isn't he special. My son would have never written something like that at 8 and I'm very proud.

How are these things resolved?; 1/18/13, 8:36 PM
chickelit said...: bagoh20 said...

Obama recently said about the movements represented by Lincoln and MLK "..."are the only reason that it's possible for me to be inaugurated."

I agree with that too.

ISWYDT

He conflates the "only reason" with sufficient reason.; 1/18/13, 8:40 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You know... I know Obama would probably have to get parental permissions instead of FBI background checks... but if he really wants to have a gabinet that looks like America, that kid as Secretary of Limits For Good Reasons would be a great start.

Of course this kid would be disqualified if during the confirmation hearing it was found that he kept a trillion dollar coin in his piggy bank... The treasury frowns on the idea of funny money out in circulation like that.; 1/18/13, 8:40 PM
The Godfather said...: Some day, maybe 10-12 years from now, poor Grant will have to confront what his 8-year-old self said on national television. He'll feel about that the way he feels about the photo of him when he was 6 in the Halloween costume that Aunt Maisie knit for him.

Poor kid.; 1/18/13, 8:43 PM
Nonapod said...: There's something creepy about political figures who surround themselves with children using them as props, like Chairman Mao for example.; 1/18/13, 8:43 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Just once I would like someone to respond, "Hey Grant! Did you know President Obama is the most virulently pro-abortion President in history? He vigorously promoted a bill to allow doctors to kill babies born alive during a failed abortion. He's a babykiller, Grant. How safe does that make you feel now, punk?"; 1/18/13, 8:44 PM
kentuckyliz said...: "Hey Grant! The President would like to thank you for coming today...and also for paying for his current spending. Thanks to your future kids for paying his bills, too. Very generous of all y'all."; 1/18/13, 8:45 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "P.S. I know you're doing your best."

Thats something someone says when they dont want to be seen as piling on because somebody fucked up.

When Hillary testifies on Benghazi, for example... a senator will say... "I know you're doing your best."

When its not chickification... its infantilization... or maybe both.; 1/18/13, 8:57 PM
pm317 said...: Unfortunately his best is not good enough for this country (and me)!; 1/18/13, 8:59 PM
Lawyer Mom said...: Tsk, tsk, said Chris Christie.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-chris-christie-lashes-out-nra-ad-20130118,0,1052799.story; 1/18/13, 9:03 PM
Mary Beth said...: I'm trying to think of what I would have wanted at 8-years-old. Maybe a swimming pool in every yard. Good thing I didn't get that, you know how dangerous those are for children.

Carter was mocked for saying that he asked his daughter what the most important issue of the campaign was (and she was five years older). When did we go from finding this ridiculous to taking it seriously?; 1/18/13, 9:19 PM
edutcher said...: This is where the use of the line, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?", fits nicely although in this case it would most certainly be rhetorical.; 1/18/13, 9:19 PM
Bayoneteer said...: The NRA should find that women that shot the two guys breaking into her house (or someone just like her). Have her two cute little tykes on her knee while she gives her pitch. Run it 24/7.; 1/18/13, 9:26 PM
Wince said...: Notice the narcissist would only grant that they are "pretty smart" kids who wrote "pretty smart" letters.

Allahpundit got it right:

One of the reasons he’s relying so heavily on kids, I suspect, is because he knows gun control is going nowhere in Congress. Less than 40 percent of the public thinks new laws will stop gun violence; Senate Democrats from red states are already headed for the exits. Obama can’t do much legislatively for his base here but he can, at least, reassure them that they’re morally superior to the opposition and that they, despite their entrenched, passionate support for abortion rights, care about The Children in a way conservatives never will.

Across the range of issues, Obama just wants the fight because he thinks if nothing else he can "win" rhetorically.

Peggy Noonan got this much right:

His Terms Are Always Hostile Ones

No one has good faith but Obama. Doesn’t this get boring, even to him?

...Maybe the president doesn’t operate with as much good faith as he thinks, and maybe the other side isn’t as bad as he pretends. As I watched his news conference and his gun-control remarks, I thought, for the first time in a while, that the Republicans are finally getting a break.

He is overplaying his hand.

He does that. He’s doing it again.; 1/18/13, 9:29 PM
LilyBart said...: I want to hear what Grant will say when he's 30 and realizes his future was screwed by big government spending.; 1/18/13, 9:42 PM
Synova said...: "My eight-year-old wants to own a car dealership when she grows up so she can give people cars for free."

At eight my daughter insisted that when she grew up she wanted to live in a hotel. (No, this was not post Zack and Cody.) I finally figured out why on earth she'd have such a bizarre ambition and explained to her that many apartment buildings also had swimming pools.

Kids don't know squat.

Though that was a nice letter. I don't want to pick on a kid for writing a letter. I'll pick on the president who acts like an 8 year old understands enough to have their own opinion, and a thoughtful opinion about solutions though.

At 8 I was convinced that the only logical reality was one where you had to get permission from the government to move to a different state. I remember this clearly. In my 8 year old mind one needed permission. Always. For everything.; 1/18/13, 9:44 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Kids don't know squat.

I'm going to confess something... and this is in no way meant to mock, irony nor cynicism...

I'm glad you wrote that Synova.

I wander sometimes... did I loose it and nobody told me?

You know, I have to literally change the channel back and remember that I ordered myself to watch the news... I don't want to cringe continuously, but at the same time I don't want to get into a place where I'm a Fox News peasant either... (Drudge helps) Incidentally my cringing during Fox News is more intense and upsetting... for reasons I wont go into now.

But thank you... Its a relief to know I'm not going mad.; 1/18/13, 10:32 PM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: These kids did not write these letters. You can tell when a kid is reading something they wrote versus something someone wrote for them. This is the later.; 1/18/13, 10:41 PM
Known Unknown said...: "What was offensive about the president's recommendations is what they excluded. He had nothing to say about America's culture of violence—its movies, TV shows and videogames. Excuse me, there will be a study of videogames; they are going to do "research" on whether seeing 10,000 heads explode on video screens every day might lead unstable young men to think about making heads explode. You'll need a real genius to figure that out."

Sadly, Noonan is still a fucking nanny at heart, too.; 1/18/13, 10:46 PM
Basta! said...: When I was 8 I had friends who lived in a big tenement a block down the street. My mother told me not to go over there, but I'd sneak over anyway.

One day a drunk who lived in one of the units said, Hey kids, I'll give you a dollar if you watch me pee. A gaggle of us finally agreed, but then they all hung back in the stairwell. Only one girl and I wound up actually watching, because otherwise it felt like cheating. I distinctly recall that the guy peed what I took to be white foam, which I (smartypants) figured was coz he drank all that beer. I was quite proud of myself for figuring that out.

It wasn't till 15-20 years later that for some reason that incident came to mind and I realized what actually happened. What a little dope!

So yeah, 8-year olds don't know squat.; 1/18/13, 10:52 PM
Tim said...: Obama and his people understand far better than normal Americans how much his voters eat this shit up.

That's why they do it, and that's why they won't stop.; 1/18/13, 11:05 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: These over-officious jerks put God deeper and deeper in the closet, take more and more of our money... and whatever they don't take, they are busy devaluing... now see an opportunity to go after the peoples last line of defence.

If we pick up anything on this History of _____ purgatory Althouse got us is this...

Everything that happened before is bound to happen again.; 1/18/13, 11:32 PM
gadfly said...: This kid should be immediately drafted as a page for Congressman Hank Johnson. With their combined intellect they can save Guam from tipping into the ocean.; 1/18/13, 11:35 PM
mikee said...: Lincoln also said something about fooling all the people only some of the time, and as I recall, it meant that eventually the people figure out they are being fooled.

The Who even wrote a song about it, didn't they?; 1/18/13, 11:37 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: It's been several months since the tragedy of Fast and Furious, Asshole, and we're still waiting for reliable reports about your administration's criminal irresponsibility.; 1/18/13, 11:42 PM
furious_a said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/19/13, 1:02 AM
Sheridan said...: 50 years ago, when I was in middle school, a highlight of the year was the contest to see which 8th grade student could best recite, from memory and with "feeling", Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In the audience were the parents of all the 8th graders, the school principal, the District Superintendent and all the members of the school board. The kids were nervous, the parents proud and the school officials respectful. The contest winner was recognized at the next assembly and got their name in the local paper. Even the "cool" students participated. Sometimes, they won the contest.

There were no intimations of politics embedded within the recitation of the Address. The representatives of authority were "in the room" only to dignifiy the event and reward the children participants.

Seeing Obama and Biden, looking lugubrious, attending to their child prop, smug with his halting presentation of their message, reminded me of the differences between a callous and calculating political present with a simpler time, a world now long dead, a world that did not use its children as pawns in political struggles. As cynical as I've become over the last 50 years, what the boy and his parents were beguiled to do, is utterly disgusting.; 1/19/13, 1:02 AM
furious_a said...: "P.S. I know you're doing your best."

equals

"Bless your heart.

When I was eight I thought our airliner would bounce off the clouds during descent because I had recently seen a movie where a nice British lady with an umbrella sat on clouds. And sang.; 1/19/13, 1:08 AM
AlanKH said...: You can't pay me enough to watch that video. I know how it's gonna turn out. Kid's gonna go full metal Stepford Child. I'd rather be waterboarded while listening to Bill Shatner sing "Bohemian Rhapsody."; 1/19/13, 4:54 AM
AllenS said...: When I was 8, I wanted to own a gun.; 1/19/13, 5:59 AM
Deb said...: When I was 8, I thought Jesus would walk out on a cloud and say hello.; 1/19/13, 6:41 AM
Tank said...: When I was 8 we played cowboys and indians. I loved killing as many indians as possible. Die Die Die you indians. Take that Tonto.

This is not allowed anymore.

Unless you're killing white men, then it's great fun.; 1/19/13, 7:52 AM
Scott said...: It's child abuse.; 1/19/13, 8:00 AM
Astro said...: Oh, so it's a kid; not Ulysses S.
/Disappointed.

Wasn't one of the reasons Carter lost to Reagan his comment that he consulted his daughter Amy on foreign affairs?

We all love the precious wisdom of the kids in 'Peanuts' - but they're just speaking the words written by adults.

When I was a kid my knowledge of pol- Hey, can I have another cookie?; 1/19/13, 8:10 AM
Jason said...: That's the smartest, most qualified Democrat I've ever seen!; 1/19/13, 9:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Ever notice that there are no see-saws on playgrounds any more?

This kind of kid is the reason why.; 1/19/13, 9:33 AM
CWJ said...: I finally played this video and started laughing halfway through when I realized that this kid's reading and writing style is identical to Ralph's theme in Christmas Story. Grant - I think there should be a limit to how many guns you can have. Ralph - I think everyone should have a Red Rider BB gun (with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time).; 1/19/13, 10:19 AM
Sam L. said...: He's doing his best. 'Tis a pity his best is so poor.; 1/19/13, 10:26 AM
Revenant said...: This is not allowed anymore. Unless you're killing white men, then it's great fun

When I was 8 we played Star Wars. Kids still do, so far as I can tell.

But honestly, anyone who thinks you aren't allowed to have fun killing off-white bad guys is clearly unfamiliar with the Call of Duty franchise. :); 1/19/13, 2:39 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Oh, please, not Noonan. A stopped clock is right every once in a while, but that's no reason to applaud it for doing so.

Didn't you catch the "the assault ban shouldn't have been allowed to lapse" line? Not only is this historically ignorant--the passage relied on several who would not have voted for it w/o the sunset provision--but it also ignores the fact that the CDC, despite its best efforts, couldn't come up with a finding that the AWB was correlated with any reduction of crime.

Oops, Ms Noonan: you inner statist just revealed itself again.; 1/19/13, 8:17 PM