You know that someone deserves your respect when no one refers to them by name, but instead uses descriptive noun phrases like “The Queen” or “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince” or “The Dear Leader.” When you are as multi-talented as Barack Obama, it can be hard to know which descriptor to use. What trumps “The President” or “The Leader of the Free World?” (Scratch the last one, too imperialistic.)
Seeing that the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Constitutional merits of requiring employers whose personal religious convictions do not support abortion or contraceptive use was a strong rebuttal to one of Obama’s capstone achievements, he seems to have taken refuge in the title of “constitutional lawyer.” After all, a studied constitutional lawyer might have reason to disagree with the opinion of the court. At least that’s what it sounds like Press Secretary Josh Earnest was trying to do when he referred to “the constitutional lawyer who sits in the Oval Office” twice in a press briefing today.
Maybe the constitutional lawyer who sits in the Oval Office just has trouble remembering his own job title. This is, after all, the man who said during his 2008 campaign, “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”
