OK, let's start with the fact that I find this little bit of free expression to be completely tasteless. What concerns me is the reaction of law enforcement.

The Oklahoma City Police Department admits one of its officers made a mistake in pulling over a man last week for carrying an anti-President Obama sign in his car.

According to The Oklahoman newspaper, an officer pulled over Chip Harrison last week because he had in his car a sign that said, "Abort Obama, not the unborn."

Call me a cynic, but I'm fairly sure that it wouldn't have been handled the same way if it read "Abort Bush...."

Maybe the police officer reacted that way because the Left tried to drill it into our heads that if you dare to be underwhelmed by the Obamessiah, you're a racist. Maybe he was young. Maybe he was being overly careful in no-doubt-sensitive Oklahoma City, in a post-9/11 environment.

Whatever the reason, the fact that the current Administration seems to think it can dictate what you can and can't say about our new President makes this particular incident a little creepy. Even though the Secret Service investigated the incident, ruled him not a threat, and presumably he can go about his business, incidents like this have some potential to create a chilling effect on those who would criticize The One.

I've got no argument with taking the security of our President seriously. But when we start having people face law enforcement over distasteful speech, we should all keep a very close eye on the situation. It's a very steep, and very slippery slope from here, and the landing is extremely unpleasant.

(For the full article, go here)

Labels: freedom of speech, politics, President Barack H. Obama