February 26, 2008 7:43AM 

# Demander-in-Chief 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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Bill Kristol’s [column](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/opinion/25kristol.html?em&ex=1204174800&en=2aa07e48b60cb912&ei=5087%0A) in yesterday’s *New York Times* contained an interesting, if disconcerting, quote from Michelle Obama:

> Barack Obama … is going to demand that you shed your cynicism… That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

The President of the United States is the *employee* of the American people. He is not there to make demands of people. If I want to sit on my couch for the rest of my life eating Doritos and watching trashy television — unengaged, uninformed and uninvolved — that’s my prerogative.

(Hat tip: our beloved founder, Ed Crane).

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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