CHARLOTTESVILLE — Most students attending Central Virginia public schools will have a chance to watch President Barack Obama’s live back-to-school address Tuesday, but some will have to wait until school administrators review the recording first.

An editorial piece by the Richmond Times-Dispatch published July 20 in The News Virginian (“Plumber’s point pertinent”) reminds me of a liberal tactic that is being repeated today. 

As time goes about healing wounds, the City Council’s so-called Three Amigos brandish pleasant public faces. This is a product of necessity: Majorities require their constituent parts to remain whole. But whatever the fellas might say when notebooks are open and tapes are rolling, this is plainly not the same trio who assumed power, and apparently other things, a year ago this morning.

I hear daily, as do most of you, that the “government” is the enemy. Conservative radio talking heads, most leading Republicans and conservatives and a great many Independents all complain about the government interfering in their lives.

When George W. Bush was selected president (elected if you’re a conservative or a Republican), I was displeased, to say the least. Even so, I resisted immediately criticizing him. I figured he deserved at least a year’s time in office to get his bearings and feet wet.

When Arlen Specter announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, it seemed first and foremost like an attempt at self-preservation. He didn’t think he could win the Republican primary in Pennsylvania because his party had moved too far to the right to elect him, so he became a Democrat. Simple. Or maybe not so simple.