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"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said at Hampton University in southeastern Virginia.

Obama described the most popular offerings of companies like Apple, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo as distractions that are putting unnecessary pressure on the country

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Does the President of the United States really believe that technologies that put more information in the hands of the public (and the voters) impede "empowerment" and "emancipation"? I hope not, but let's face it; Leftism has always relied on a certain ignorance. Certainly his speechwriter must have seen similarities between these statements and the most well-known work of political fiction of the twentieth century.

Just this year alone, the President attempted (and succeeded) in rushing through healthcare reform without allowing the true costs to be told. And then they were well on their way to an inquisition of the major corporations who started mentioning the costs. He and the Democrats now face enormous backlash precisely because the technologies that he bewails—blogs and talk radio—empowered us to discover and share the costs of ObamaCare.

For Obama, the engines of argument have become as objectionable as argument itself. The President laments that technology "exposes us to all kinds of arguments", a curious complaint from someone with as much education as Obama. He says this is putting pressure on our country. But preserving "all kinds of arguments" was considered so important for the United States that the principle was enshrined in the First Amendment!

And this isn't some bogus call for civility, either. His call to quiet the "diversion" of arguments is just the same old call to curtail dissent that is common among Leftists. The president is not worried about the opinion pages of the New York Times distracting young minds. It's the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal he would like to silence. It's Glenn Beck and Ed Morrissey and our very own Ace.

Update: This is not the first time Obama demonstrated what a fearful and small-minded man he is. He has been complaining about Rush Limbaugh for over a year now. His war against Fox News similarly displayed an inability to deal with dissenting arguments. Even the White House press corps has complained about the pettiness that results from even the hint of criticism.