Obama-critical breath mints are being taken off the shelves at a University of Tennessee bookstore in Knoxville, Tenn. after a local legislator found the “Disappoint-mints” to be offensive and educationally insignificant.

Democratic legislator Joe Armstrong conveyed to the Knoxville Sentimental that the breath mints served no education value, and therefore the politically specific and insulting depiction of the president made them unworthy to be on the university’s shelves.

Since when is every item inside a university book store strictly educational? Look out DePaul, get rid of all the stress balls, key chains, shot glasses and whoopee cushions.

Reading “This is change?” and sporting a blue and red Warhol-like portrait of Obama, the mints serve the same purpose as the plethora of the “Yes we can” t-shirts that flooded through campus book stores in 2008; to promote a political message, an action well within our rights as free speaking Americans.

Whether our message is red or blue, left of center or right of center, as American citizens we have the responsibility and right to express it. Armstrong stated that he did not ask the University Center’s director David Kent to remove the mints, but was happy when they were taken off the shelves.

Here lies an unavoidable problem with the banning of Disappoint-mints; doing so signifies an obvious double standard with regards to what acceptable in liberal and conservative politics.

Bush-bashing was a nation-wide pastime in the mid 2000’s, so why does Obama get a sensitivity pass? Politicians take office knowing full well they cannot make everyone happy, and if their skin isn’t thick enough to whether the storm, they shouldn’t be standing behind a podium.

Ironic that Armstrong would criticize the sale of a product well within the rights of the first amendment, when I suspect Pres. Obama himself would likely advocate for them to stay on the shelves. Pres. Obama is not a perfect man, but I do consider him to be a reasonable man, one who is well versed in the game politics and knows how to take a hit.

From the moment we become citizens of the United States, Freedom of Speech is an inseparable, unavoidable right that has no exceptions. I don’t care if they’re “No-bama Tic-Tacs” or “Go Barack Bubble Gum,” unless a commercial product is threatening the safety and security of the American people, let it sell!

(…let’s be honest, if these Disappoint-mints are a hot seller, our economy could use the boost, couldn’t it?)