America is still reeling from the carnage in Dallas, with 12 police officers shot, five of them dead. But on Sunday, when he was still in Spain, President Obama delivered a full defense of Black Lives Matter.

The President said one of the “great things” about our country is that people can “petition the government,” protest, and “speak truth to power.” Protesting is sometimes “messy and controversial,” he said. At times the rhetoric is overheated and counterproductive, he said. But “the point” is to “raise issues.”

Obama told reporters: “I don’t think that you can hold well-meaning activists who are doing the right thing and peacefully protesting responsible for everything that is uttered at a protest site.” He went on: “I think that the overwhelming majority of people who are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement what they really want to see is a better relationship between the police and the community, so they can feel that it’s serving them.”

Obama compared Black Lives Matter to antiwar, environmental, civil rights, and feminist protesters, all protesting in the fine traditions of America.

I repeat all that from Obama to ask this. Where was the loving embrace of protest when the Tea Party formed to “petition the government” and “speak truth” to his power? Hmm?

Those “well-meaning activists” were illegally targeted by Obama’s IRS, in an attempt to destroy them. Those who did it were never held to account. And, under Obama they won’t be. Equality? It’s a shame with this bunch.