We Libertarians complain about how the office of the president of the United States has become, since Lincoln, the Imperial Presidency. In general, the role of the government has grown so much, is now meddling in our individual daily lives so minutely that the Nanny State description is quite literally true.
(I personally don't know how I get through each day without Nanny Bloomberg telling me what to do; I mean I thank him for telling me not to smoke and not to eat McDonald's, but, gosh, could he balance my checkbook please? Daily life is so daunting, can't a New York City employee come and make sure I've understood the recyling regulations right? Do I recycle yogurt containers or not? It's so confusing.)
All kidding aside, Gene Healy of the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank, points out how now certain leftie columnists are describing the president as our father. Here is an excerpt (for the complete article, go here).
"Despite her cutesy gal-talk and chatty pop-culture references, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is worth reading, if only because she often inadvertently encapsulates the worst ideas in contemporary politics.
"'Americans are scared' after the failed Christmas bombing, MoDo proclaimed in her column Sunday. But by responding coolly, Barack Obama let a good crisis go to waste. He missed his 'moment to be president,' Dowd says, "to be the strong father who protects the home from invaders.'
"Could there be a more infantile conception of the chief executive's role?"