Mr. Bad Example

If we start seeing an epidemic of young people getting loaded on beer, blame it on the president:

The American Beverage Institute (ABI) is highlighting what might otherwise have been an obscure comment by Nancy Raynor, president of the Delaware chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, about President Obama's "beer summit" with Henry Louis Gates and James Crowley. According to WDEL, a Wilmington radio station, Raynor "is concerned about what teens and children take away from seeing the president drinking on TV." In an interview with the station over the weekend, Raynor explained that "it's a well-known fact that young people tend to mimic the actions that they see of the adults."

This may not be the silliest reaction to the beer summit, but it will do until a better one comes along. Critics of MADD have been saying for some time that the organization isn't just about stopping drunk driving anymore; it's become pretty much a temperance organization against drinking in general. The group's perfodoes not disabuse us of that notion.