Barack Obama: “This election will be closer than the last one.”

The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.

It is a decision about how do we face and embrace this finite amount of time we have on the planet.

Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.

And I will fight for that, even if I don’t always think it’s going to win.