Amusing but unfair. Isn’t this a standard rhetorical tic used by any politician to prove how much they care? If you asked Bush, say, on any given day whether Random Issue X was “a top priority” for him, wouldn’t you most likely get a “yes” in response no matter what the issue was? We all knew that national security was his real top priority, so if he blew a little smoke in some random interview by claiming that, say, seatbelt safety was a priority too, who would care, really? Same with The One: His top priority clearly was health-care reform, so now he’s free to get crazy with the rhetorical cheese whiz about any other subject he’s asked to speak on.

Long story short, for a sitting president, what isn’t a “top priority”? Aside from deficit reduction, I mean.

Early in his administration, Mr. Obama also assigned the “top priority” label to his campaign promise to overhaul America’s health care system. But a check of his speeches since taking office, reflect a bevy of other “top priorities:”

FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: “…that’s something that’s going to be a top priority.” (4/27/10)

ENERGY SECURITY: “And that’s why my energy security plan has been one of the top priorities of my Administration since the day I took office.” (4/28/10)

EDUCATION REFORM: “To train our workers for the jobs of tomorrow, we’ve made education reform a top priority in this Administration.” (2/24/10)

STUDENT LOAN REFORM: “This is something that I’ve mad a top priority.” (2/1/10)

EXPORTS BY SMALL BUSINESSES: “This is going to be a top priority.” (12/3/09)

And on and on it goes. See now why his staff is stressed out and he needs five vacations or whatever? If you had to patronize a different constituency every day by assuring them you take their concerns very seriously when in fact you hadn’t thought of them in months (that means you, amnesty shills!), you’d be tired too. Once again, America: You’re welcome.