Down and Dirty

You could, without stretching, make an aesthetic case for voting against Barack Obama. Leaving aside the hobbled economy, the promised second term "flexibility" with Putin, the job-diminishing Dodd/Frank act, the Benghazi debacle, the train wreck called Obamacare, the assault on the free exercise of religion, the pretense that the Lilly Ledbetter Act codified equal pay for equal work, the limp response to Iran's nuclear threat, the many Solyndras, kicking Bowles/Simpson to the curb, the "free" contraceptives, the recommendation that Israel should do some "serious self-reflection," the preening over bin Laden's assassination, the Bill Clinton ad saying Romney wouldn't have approved the mission, the pretense that Gabby Giffords' shooting should put us on the path to political civility, the savaging of Paul Ryan in a speech to which he had been specifically invited and the fact that Obama didn't know the number when David Letterman asked about how big the national debt has become -- there are grounds for firing Obama that rest upon seemliness.

Barack Obama isn't the first candidate to go ugly in search of votes -- but he may well be the first whose reputation for high-mindedness seems not to have been the least bit dented by his bottom feeding. Both he and his acolytes on the left have dragged our public life down to the vulgar level to which they've already dragged popular culture.

Often, the two intersect. Madonna exhorts her fans at a concert to vote for Barack Obama and when some boo, she extends her middle finger. Bill Maher says, "A new Republican administration would be an open for business sign to all the bizarre Bible-thumping bulls--- that the Obama administration has given us a break from."

The president isn't responsible for every vile expression of his supporters. But is he at least responsible for his vice president? Biden's behavior is beyond unseeemly. He has strayed so far beyond propriety as to provoke doubts about his mental stability. Do we really think it's cute for a vice president to call a major piece of legislation a "big f------ deal"? Is it just ol' Joe being Joe when he tells a black audience that Republicans "want to put y'all back in chains"? His performance in the debate -- bullying, crude, manic, and boorish -- has set a new low for debates on the national level. We've seen befuddled performances, surly ones, bored and even incoherent displays by candidates for president and vice president. But Joe Biden behaved like a mean drunk. The response of his boss and his party to this thuggishness was ... applause.

Mona Charen Follow @twitterapi

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