Just Bare-Knuckled Chicago Pols . .

The Obama White House has gone after Rush Limbaugh, applauded Jon Stewart's attack on Obama critic Jim Cramer from the White House podium, and today, strikes back angrily at VP Cheney

after learning that Cheney had had the temerity to criticize the Obama administration -- not personally, mind you, but on policy issues.

What is with these Obama people? Didn't anyone tell them that criticism comes with the job?

For heaven's sake. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter both broke the longstanding tradition of ex-presidents remaining silent about the policies of their predecessors. Yet I don't recall the George W. Bush White House attacking either of them. Nor did the Bush White House respond when Al Gore essentially accused President Bush of being a traitor.

This rush to denigrate anyone who dares to criticize The One does the Obama administration no favors. It makes the Obama team look petty, deeply insecure, and frankly, like the kind of people who are better suited to running a totalitarian country where there simply isn't the inconvenience of a First Amendment.

What's more, they cast President Obama in either one of two unflattering images: Either as a hypocrite, who talked about changing the tone of discourse in Washington without any intention of actually doing so -- or else as a leader so impotent he can't control the behavior of those he appointed.