Obama’s University Visit Was Not Simple

By DAN BARRY
NYT

MADISON, Wis.

Would it be all right if the Leader of the Free World stopped by your campus for a little while?

He wants to surround himself with hordes of enthusiastic young people, toss out a few oratorical gems — as you know, he’s got the gift — and reinvigorate his anxious political party. The Secret Service has the usual security concerns, of course, but we’ll pay for any inconvenience. Interested?

The offer by the Democratic National Committee to the University of Wisconsin-Madison would seem like a no-brainer, conjuring images of university officials ostentatiously checking their calendars before saying: It just so happens that the Badgers of Wisconsin are free that day.

The offer, though, forced the university’s chancellor, Biddy Martin, to weigh the many benefits of a visit by a sitting president against the naked political purpose of that visit. After all, the event would be a kickoff rally for Democrats as they approach the midterm elections, and Barack Obama would be appearing as a party leader more than as a president.

(More here.)