Comedy gold on a Friday, via the Examiner:
Politico's Mike Allen: "One of the things that those hundreds of young people in the Chicago headquarters do is create viral pieces of content for the web. Things that people will share. This is one that I think may be viral in the wrong way, that I think is a lot bigger on the Republican side, than it is on the Democratic side. The Life of Julia takes her from age 3 to age 67 and at every point along the way the government is giving her a hand."
MSNBC's Willie Geist: "They did lob this up as a softball for Republicans, one conservative saying, 'Who the hell is Julia and why am i paying for her whole life?'"
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "Who brushes her teeth?"
Mika Brzezinski: "I don't think it helps..."
Aside from the specific intellectual and policy leaps the Obama campaign performs throughout this project (many of which Kevin and others dealt with yesterday), it's the core concept of "Julia" that is most disquieting. Here we have Team Obama dreaming up its ideal citizen, whom they imagine as someone who relies on government largesse at every single stage of her life. They are celebrating dependency, even holding it up as aspirational and laudable. How depressing. Conservatives believe that -- of course -- the federal government has a role to play in Americans' lives, and that we need a strong, basic safety net for those who cannot help themselves. But the far more important goal is for the government to stay out of people's lives to the greatest extent possible, thus fostering economic independence and empowerment for individuals and families. President Obama sees the world through a different lens. A statist, cradle-to-grave lens, through which a towering federal government engineers and facilitates the US economy. That vision, embodied by "Julia," violates the core of who we are as a country, is unaffordable, and isn't working.
UPDATE - The Heritage Foundation envisions a brighter, bolder American future for a Julia who is freed from the shackles of the State.