There are a few things that strike the reader upon reading the following tweet, which references Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, the Army Ranger President Barack Obama praised at the end of his otherwise unmemorable State of the Union address. Remsburg was gravely wounded in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan on his 10th deployment. The bomb killed one and left Remsburg in a coma for three months. Even today he remains partially paralyzed and brain damaged. Seeing him at the speech was a great reminder of the costs of war and the bravery of a certain class of man.
But for one member of the media, it was also really about … wait for it … Barack Obama:
Obama's ending on Remsburg wasn't just a story about America — it also was a story about Obama. Nothing has ever come easy
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) January 29, 2014
It’s amazing that any human would look on the sacrifices of Cory Remsburg and think of any president of recent memory, much less Barack Obama. It’s also just astounding that someone would have absolutely no compunction about expressing said thought. And as if all that isn’t bad enough, how about the first response to the tweet coming from President Obama’s previous chief speechwriter, in which he says:
@mmurraypolitics my thought exactly the first time I read it
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) January 29, 2014
While Murray and Favreau were drawing political lessons from Cory Remsburg’s story, Ronan Farrow thought it a good opportunity for a joke. At least he understood the absurdity of comparing political or policy struggles to those of a war hero:
Cory "struggles on the left side." Congress relates.
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 29, 2014
As people reacted with horror to Murray’s tweet — even for our media, this is shockingly fanboyrific — John Podhoretz reminded people that everyone has tweeted things they regretted. Cut him some slack, he said. But then he realized that the tweet was just the 140-character version of Murray’s more embarrassing thoughts placed in 1st Read. Indeed, Murray himself suggested that people upset with the tweet read the rest of his thoughts. Andrew Stiles highlighted them here:
SMARTEST. TAKE. EVER? pic.twitter.com/J1TyASF1rt
— Andrew Stiles (@AndrewStilesNRO) January 29, 2014
If you can’t see it, here’s the relevant part to show you what your national media is made of:
That story could also apply to Obama himself: Nothing in his seven years on the national political stage (2007-2014) has come easy. The 2008 race for the Democratic nomination. Even that general election. The health-care law. The re-election campaign. And now the president's current situation in which he finds himself bloodied and bruised after the botched health-care rollout.
Emphasis mine. Philip Klein responded:
@mmurraypolitics I don't see how that changes it. Losing NH primary is not like nearly being killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) January 29, 2014
Yes, nothing has been easy for this President, from the carried-by-the-coddling-media election victories to the awarding of the Nobel Prize. Nothing has been easy. It’s just like what Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg has gone through. Exactly like it. Uncanny, really. Somehow, though, not everyone agreed:
@mmurraypolitics You couldn't even honor a soldier, a war hero, without making it about Obama. your cult mentality knows no bounds.
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) January 29, 2014
Take it away, Rick Wilson:
@mmurraypolitics You're not seriously comparing a 10-deployment combat-wounded American hero with a pampered, prep-school Ivy League scrub.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
@mmurraypolitics That demeans Remsburg so profoundly that I'm practically speechless. He'll struggle his entire life. Obama never has.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
@mmurraypolitics Nothing has come easy except prep school, Ivy League scholarships, Harvard Law, political sinecure jobs, media coddling.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
Veteran Jon Gabriel weighed in:
.@jonfavs Remsburg had 10 deployments, Obama took 10 mulligans at a golf course in Hawaii. The similarities are uncanny. @mmurraypolitics
— jon gabriel (@exjon) January 29, 2014
Favreau responded that he was simply comparing Remsburg’s sacrifices to Obama’s policy agenda, as if that somehow made it in any way better, and then disparaged veterans for being so touchy. Favreau didn’t serve in the military but he did work for John Kerry’s campaign, so he reported for duty in his own way.
Anywho, more of the best responses to Mike Murray’s posterior-licking thoughts on the greatness of Barack Obama:
The stories of D-Day and Iwo Jima are really just stories of Obama's courage and sacrifice, aren't they, @mmurraypolitics?
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 29, 2014
He sacrifices Himself for us all. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. https://t.co/JLE9UfnmqI
— Thomas H. Crown (@ThomasHCrown) January 29, 2014
Nothing has ever come easy for the Harvard-educated half-term senator elected president thanks to a massive financial meltdown.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 29, 2014
There is nothing that isn’t about Obama. Everything is. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Your wedding. Your parents. Everything in your life.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) January 29, 2014
@TheRickWilson Hey putting together a composite girlfriend is hard work.
— Tom Stivali (@TStivali) January 29, 2014
Oh, yes. Obama's struggle to find high-quality choom is JUST like decades of rehab and surgeries for a wounded solider.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
Being nearly killed by an IED, then enduring dozens of surgeries is JUST as hard as Harvard Law Review.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
The struggles of being a part-time adjunct Con Law professor? Just like 10 deployments. The struggle is real.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
Nothing has ever come easy for Obama, except celebrity, adoration, special handling, jobs, and lack of scrutiny about his ideology.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 29, 2014
"So bored in the Senate; maybe president?" thought the half-term senator, wondering if his struggles were as bad or worse than losing a limb
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 29, 2014
"My struggles, how will I overcome them?" thought candidate Obama before his 43 point win over last-minute-replacement candidate Alan Keyes.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 29, 2014
Obama once had a hangnail at Columbia.
— Mikéy Ramoné (@ThePantau) January 29, 2014
"Nothing has come easy for [Nobel Peace Prize Winner] Obama." https://t.co/ZKLfnqsszX
— Cuffé (@CuffyMeh) January 29, 2014
Hey @mmurraypolitics, I created a new avi for you. pic.twitter.com/RkzL99vJNZ
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) January 29, 2014
My subscription to Details magazine expired. I feel just like Sgt. Cory Remsburg.
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) January 29, 2014
UPDATE: Late entry.
Nothing in Obama's presidency has come easy. http://t.co/YtWCyFu8J5
— Andrew Stiles (@AndrewStilesNRO) January 29, 2014