James Taranto, "Best of the Web" @ the Wall Street Journal
It's been just over a year since the Rev. Rick Warren asked then-Sen. Barack Obama, "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?" The next president of the United States answered with a glib dodge: "Well, you know, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade."
At the time, we quipped: "Obama just can't win with these right-wingers, can he? For months they've been blasting him for acting like the Messiah. Now they're attacking him for acknowledging he's not God. Well, not yet, anyway."
We thought we were kidding....
"We are God's partners"?! Hmm, God & Obama? No, wait! Obama & God. Yeah, that's much better!
As Tevi Troy notes at National Review Online, "The reference to the 'who shall live and who shall die' prayer was strange. . . . Is this really the context in which he wishes to discuss health reform--a powerful and unseen being making determinations of life and death? One would think that he would want to avoid anything that could raise the specter of rationing, death panels, or the like."
Further, "We are God's partners in matters of life and death" is not part of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Those words are Obama's. Granted he is in a higher pay grade than he was a year ago--but not nearly as high as he seems to think.
Both the glib "above my pay grade" and the grandiose "we are God's partners" reflect a disturbing callowness on the president's part. Someone who seeks power over life-and-death matters--whether by running for president or by pushing for legislation vastly expanding governmental authority over medical choices--ought to be able at least to make a pretense of maturity and humility.... 
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