For one thing, the diagnosing of “unhealthy” opinions is reminiscent of abuses of psychiatry by totalitarian regimes. And while Bryant’s rebuttal of the straw man she sets up is more or less irrefutable–straw men exist to be toppled by trivial truths–the attitude she expresses is, we daresay, un-American, and a little bit racist.

The president of the United States, after all, may not be to blame for all the problems of the world, but he is responsible for them to a considerable degree. That responsibility was “placed on his shoulders” by the American people at his request. And a central principle of American constitutional government–some would argue the central principle–is that the people have an inalienable right to hold their leaders accountable and to criticize them as vigorously as they see fit.

Further, to the extent that the impulse to excuse Obama from blame is driven by the president’s race, it is an excellent example of what his predecessor–who shouldered plenty of blame himself–called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

We hate to pile on a college student, and we suspect young Mazie Bryant felt she had no choice but to grovel in the face of external pressures. The University of Alabama’s leaders missed an opportunity to take a strong stand in favor of free expression–and, by extension, academic freedom–by showing support for the student newspaper and its cartoonist.