Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Reporters and editors for the New York Times have been carrying Barack Obama's water for well over a year, and there is no sign that they will let up, now that he is president. Read this. Notice how the reporter frames the issue: It's reason (represented by President Obama) versus emotion (represented by the people). Count how many times the word "angry" (or a variant) is used in this report. (Answer: 11.) I'm not saying there is no anger out there. What I'm saying is that anger can be rational. The 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776 were angry, but they had reason to be. Indeed, they set out their grievances for posterity. Perhaps a better word than "anger," which connotes raw emotion, is "indignation," which is righteous anger. The American people are indignant.