Good For Julio Osegueda

Some conservatives have been visibly annoyed by Julio Osegueda, the obsequious college student who looked like he was ready to drop to his knees and worship Obama at a town hall meeting,

Now this kid is being given the star treatment,

The Edison State College communications major said he has received interview requests from MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” CBS’s “The Early Show,” NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, and even from the Glenn Beck Program. Radio stations from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., have also talked with him as has CNN and MSNBC.

He also has received internship offers and a one-day gig as radio color announcer for the Fort Myers Miracle baseball team’s home opener on April 10.

“It’s so crazy,” Osegueda said during a break from tests at Edison on Wednesday. “I just feel like a celebrity.”

He’s also now a star on the social networking website Facebook. He said he has received 237 friend requests.

“They’re saying thanks for the enthusiasm,” Osegueda said. “I went to Wal-Mart to develop pictures (Tuesday) and an elderly man said, ‘Hey sir, I saw you earlier talking to Obama.’ He shook my hand and congratulated me.”

McDonald’s also checked in since Osegueda, a four-and-half year employee making $7.85 an hour, asked the president if he could do anything about getting him better benefits.

Franchise owner Tom Fewster said through email:

“As an independent business owner, I provide my employees with a variety of benefits at an affordable cost — including access to tiered health care plans that best meet their specific needs — just as many other small businesses do. I value my employees, their well-being, and the contributions they make to my business and our community, every day.”

McDonald’s public relations and promotions manager Anne L. Kirchhoff said they were contacted by an Oprah Winfrey-owned radio station that was inquiring about him.

Here’s what I’d say to people who are upset with this kid: give him a break.

Personally, I’ve been on conference calls with pols, interviewed them, studied them, talked to their aides, met some of them in person and what I’ve found is that they put their pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else. Moreover, the 80/20 rule applies to pols. About 20% are extremely impressive, intelligent, civic minded public servants, and the other 80% are insincere idiots, con men, incompetents, psychopaths, serial liars, and silver spoon daddys’ boys who got into office based on their last name. Honestly, if we replaced the 80% — and Barack Obama does fall within that group — with random people from the phone book, the nation would be considerably better off.

Still, we’re talking about a 19 year-old college student — do we expect him to know that already? Personally, I didn’t know jack squat about politics when I was 19 years old. So, is it a huge surprise that Julio Osegueda was visibly affected by meeting the President? Heck, I might have been, too, at that age.

Plus, look at it like this: this kid is benefitting tremendously from Barack Obama and it’s not costing you any money. Seldom will you be able to say that over the next four years. So, be happy for Julio. It’s nice to see a little more sunshine come into the kid’s life.

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