In which I cut Obama some slack

It's not race-related, it's a family allegory.

Obama is guilty of a lot of things - mismanaging or ignoring the economy, eroding freedom, forcing an unpopular health care mandate, running up debt, numerous scandals that were buried by the media,  the oceans stopping their rise (what? I thought more oceans would be a good thing), the list goes on and on.  That would be a good place to end this post, but alas, I found something on which I have to cut the president some slack.

Fox News is reporting Obama's uncle is in court for drunk driving;

President Barack Obama's uncle is expected to appear in a Massachusetts court on a drunken driving charge.

Onyango Obama pleaded not guilty after he was arrested last month in Framingham. Police allege that he registered a reading of 0.14 percent on a blood-alcohol breath test, which is above the state's legal driving limit of 0.08 percent.

The president is not his uncle's keeper.  Clearly.  We all (or most of us, or many of us) have people in our circles, friends or family, who do not behave responsibly.  As much as we'd like to smarten them up, they are their own persons.  That's part of the whole freedom thing.  The fact that the president's uncle is behaving badly is not the president's fault.   All he can control, and all we should judge him on with respect to this situation, is his reaction to it.

Does the president's uncle get special consideration?  If so it lends credence to an imperial presidency argument.  If not, it lends credence to a cold and distant presidency argument.  It's a no win situation for the president and it's made worse by the fact that it's a family member, quite possibly with a problem.  And as was pointed out in the case of Sarah Palin and others, family should be off limits for attacks.  So I'm willing to ignore this situation entirely, provided the appropriate justice is served in the case that is no better or worse than any other driver charged with drinking and driving.  

For the record, I have cut Obama some slack.  If his reaction to this situation is off-the-charts bad, the proffer of slack will be rescinded.